Moray manufacturer Forsyths said yesterday it had bought smaller Elgin-based rival Northern Fabricators.
Forsyths, which has bases at Rothes and Buckie, said the acquisition was a good fit in its expansion plans.
The value of the deal was not disclosed, but Forsyths managing director Richard Forsyth said all of Northern’s 25-plus staff would be retained.
Northern Fabricators, which specialises in stainless steel and copper for the whisky industry, has been trading since 1986.
The deal comes after Forsyths, which employs 285 people and also focuses on the whisky industry in addition to oil and gas, announced plans to recruit a further 25 workers in a £3.3million expansion earlier this year.
Mr Forsyth said: “It will just be business as usual at Northern Fabricators. They wanted to sell up and approached us as a possible interested party, and the move made sense to us.
“They are in the same business as us; we are seeing an upturn in work and there are a lot of synergies between the two businesses.”