LINE, the Japanese subsidiary of South Korean internet giant Naver, has entered the final stage of its planned merger with Yahoo Japan.

LINE officially announced Wednesday that it would acquire a 44-point-62 percent stake in Z Holdings, a subsidiary of Japanese Internet company SoftBank and the operator of Yahoo Japan.

The nearly eight trillion won acquisition will take place on February 26.

In March, A Holdings - a new joint venture between Naver and SoftBank - will become the largest stakeholder in Z Holdings, which in turn will operate both LINE and Yahoo Japan.

LINE and Yahoo Japan decided to merge in November 2019, bringing together Japan's most popular messaging app and its largest internet search portal.

Both sides hope the merger will allow them to take on U.S. and Chinese internet giants. They also hope the move will generate the synergy necessary to expand their AI, e-commerce, fintech, advertising and O2O businesses.