US underwear and t-shirt firm HanesBrands, which holds the rights to Wonderbra in Asia and the US is to buy its former sister company DBApparel, which holds the rights to the brand in Europe. The deal will create one of the largest underwear groups in the world.

The firms were previously owned by the same company until 2006, when DBApparel was sold and Hanes was spun off as a separate business.

“We will be able to reunite two great companies to create significant growth and margin-expansion opportunities”, Hanes chairman and chief executive Richard A. Noll said. “Together, we will be a nearly $6bn company utilizing our disciplined Innovate-to-Elevate strategy and leveraging our global supply chain."