Asda’s acquisition of Netto has been cleared by the Office of Fair Trading and will not be referred to the Competition Commission.

The acquisition will add 147 Netto stores and 1.2m sq ft of space.

Asda will invest £100m in converting the stores to Asda Supermarkets by the end of 2011. Combined with organic growth, in total Asda will add 168 stores to its portfolio this year.

The converted Netto stores will all trade under the Asda Supermarkets fascia and average 8,000 sq ft in size. The aim is to offer a full weekly shop.

In addition to the 147 conversions, Asda grow organically with seven Asda Superstores, four Asda Livings, ten new Supermarkets, and five extensions.

Judith McKenna, Asda chief financial officer, said: “We’ll create 1,500 jobs as we convert all of the Netto stores into Asda Supermarkets.  I want to thank my colleagues sincerely both at Netto and Asda for their patience and dedication throughout. Since we announced our intention last May to purchase these stores, it has been a long, drawn out process. I’m confident, based on the plans in place, the integration will be a huge success.”

The first converted Netto stores will be in Worksop, Wakefield and Stainforth in May.