PHH Corporation, the parent company of Britain's largest fleet management and fuel card provider PHH Vehicle Management Services, has been bought by American-owned HFS Incorporated. The deal, which is being billed as a merger agreement as it is being funded through a mix of cash and stock swap, values PHH Corporation at $1.7 billion. The move, announced on Monday, must be approved by shareholders with PHH expected to become a subsidiary of New Jersey-based HFS by next spring.

At PHH's UK operation in Swindon the deal was seen as good news by president John Cullum, who said: 'We view it as a very good deal. Suddenly our ultimate parent is a $10 billion company rather than a $1 billion company and that gives us scope for growth and expansion.'

Following the announcement Cullum said it was 'business as usual' for PHH which has 200,000 vehicles under fleet management, 26,000 vehicles on contract hire and manages fuel cards associated with 650,000 vehicles, of which the majority are with PHH AllStar, as well as truck operations. Other PHH subsidiaries include PHH Relocation, PHH Asset Management, PHH Network Services and PHH Mortgage Services.