The UK's popular online dating service, Udate.com, is buying its American counterpart Kiss.com for $17m (�11.7m).

The deal is thought to be the first merger and acquisition deal between two profitable businesses in this sector.

"We surveyed the entire market and identified Kiss.com as the perfect partner for our first acquisition," said Mel Morris, head of Udate.com.

Following the acquisition, Udate.com will have more than 3.3m registered members with monthly subscriptions worth almost $1.3m.

Money-spinner

Earlier this week, Udate.com announced that it had reached monthly profitability based on record trading results for January 2001, while Kiss.com emerged from the red to start making a monthly profit in December.

Kiss.com was founded in 1995 in Seattle, promising surfers "services for singles seeking meaningful romantic relationships."

Udate.com only started just over a year ago and has grown quickly to enlist over a million hopeful singles in the UK.