Student accommodation group Unite's proposed acquisition of smaller rival Empiric has been approved by the Competition and Markets Authority, the regulator announced on Thursday.
Following a Phase 1 investigation, the CMA said it had "cleared" the deal just one month after launching a merger inquiry, though a full report on the decision has yet to be published.
The decision came three weeks before the regulator's 19 December deadline on whether or not it would refer the merger to a more stringent Phase 2 investigation.
The two companies first announced their proposed tie-up in August, creating a combined student property portfolio worth £10.5bn, representing around 75,000 beds.
The cash-and-stock deal valued Empiric at £634m, offering shareholders 0.085 new Unite shares and 32p in cash for each Empiric share.
The firms announced on Thursday that, based on the updated timeline of the deal, the cash consideration would be reduced from 32p to 30.725p per share, with shareholders who retain their new Unite shares being entitled to the company's final dividend for 2025.
"The expectation is therefore that Empiric shareholders who retain their new Unite shares will ultimately receive an amount in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2025 that is approximately equivalent to what they would have received had the acquisition not occurred," Empiric said in a statement.