Hitachi has announced that it has been given clearance to proceed with the €1.66bn (£1.4bn) acquisition of Thales Ground Transportation Systems.

Approval from the European Commission means that the deal has now been given clearance from all 13 authorities, after the UK gave their approval earlier this month.

As a condition of the approval, Hitachi will divest its mainline signalling businesses in France, Germany and the UK.

A Hitachi spokesperson said “Hitachi Rail has been given clearance to proceed with its €1,660 million acquisition of Thales’ Ground Transportation Systems business today. The publication of the European Commission’s (EC) approval means that the deal has now received clearance from all 13 competition authorities which reviewed the acquisition.”