Both E.U. and U.K. regulatory bodies signed off on the deal in late 2016, and the companies have moved to cancel the listing of UK Mail Group plc shares, amend the company's Articles of Association and will add UK Mail's operations to the European parcel network of Deutsche Post DHL Group.

Deutsche Post has been on an expansion spree of late. In January 2016, the German company bought a 27.5-percent stake in French logistics firm Relais Colis to strengthen its foothold in Europe’s third-largest e-commerce market. In September of the same year, the company added ventures in Hungary and Slovenia, expanding its presence to 19 European countries, according to a company spokesman.

DP-DHL Group’s “Strategy 2020” initiative has the company “continuously examining all attractive and relevant markets in Europe in order to advance DHL’s business in Europe.”

On the UK Mail side, the company has bolstered its tech capabilities in recent years, investing in IT and in product and service innovation. In 2015, a DP-DHL release noted that UK Mail “completed the most significant development in its history with the move to a new automated hub in Ryton, near Coventry. The result is that it offers one of the largest integrated parcels and mail operations in the U.K.”

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