Shareholders in Ahold and Delhaize on Monday voted in favour of the proposed merger between the two supermarket groups.

Ahold investors, meeting in Amsterdam, and Delhaize shareholders in Brussels voted by a overwhelmingly majority to back the plan, which was first announced last June, news agency Reuters said.

The combined group, which will be known as Ahold Delhaize, will operate 6,500 stores and have a workforce of 375,000. The companies expect the combined operation will book efficiency savings of €500m over three years.

Last week, the two companies said they had dropped plans to give their chief executives a substantial bonus if shareholders backed the merger plans.

The Dutch market leader said in a statement it ‘did not feel that this element of the remuneration proposal had the same broad base of support that investors and other stakeholders have expressed for the merger overall’.