State Attorney General George Jepsen announced on Friday that he will not seek to block the proposed acquisition of the Hospital of Saint Raphael by the Yale-New Haven Hospital — clearing the way for the Elm City’s two major hospitals to merge.

Jepsen’s announcement follows the conclusion of his antitrust investigation, coordinated with the Federal Trade Commission, to determine whether Yale’s acquisition of Saint Raphael’s would greatly lessen competition for medical services in the area.

“My office, in conjunction with the FTC, has reviewed thousands of documents produced by the parties and by various other entities potentially affected by the transaction,” Jepsen said in the press release. “Based on the evidence developed during the investigation, and in light of the law applicable to these types of transactions… I have decided not to seek to block the merger.”

Administrators from the two hospitals said the proposed acquisition is mutually beneficial for the parties involved — helping Yale-New Haven meet growing patient demand while stabilizing Saint Raphael’s finances. According to the Certificate of Need application submitted to the Office of Health Care Access on Feb. 9, Yale-New Haven needs at least 140 additional patient beds in the next five years to cope with increased demand. Meanwhile, significant financial losses have affected Saint Raphael’s for the past several years.

Yale-New Haven Hospital, founded in 1826, was the fourth private non-profit hospital in the United States.

Correction: July 1, 2012

Due to an editing error, an earlier headline for this article incorrectly implied that the state attorney general’s approval was the last regulatory hurdle facing the merger of Yale-New Haven and St. Raphael’s Hospitals. The last step was in fact the approval of the state public health department’s Office of Health Care Access, which was granted June 27.