Power companies National Grid and Lattice have announced they are to merge to form a £14.8bn company and the UK's largest utility.
The firms plan to create National Grid Transco, which would be 57.3 per cent owned by National Grid shareholders and 42.7 per cent owned by Lattice shareholders.
The companies are aiming to make savings of at least £100m by the end of the first full year following the merger.
Completion of the deal is expected in the autumn.
The firms said there would be job cuts under the merger, although as far as possible these would come from natural wastage.
The job losses are expected to be at head offices in London, as they eliminate duplicate costs. The enlarged group will employ 31,000 staff.
The deal needs shareholder approval, as well as regulatory approval in Britain and the US, to proceed. But the companies said it was not ancipated that this would be a problem.
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