Bolton-based Harry Peers is a family-owned business employing over 60 staff. It offers a full project management service specialising in the design, engineering, fabrication and erection of structural steelwork.

Severfield has agreed to pay £18m upfront for the business, with up to an extra £7m in late 2020 depending on performance.

Last year Harry Peers generated £3.4m pre-tax profit from revenue of £21m. Its assets were valued at £24m.

The deal will significantly expand and extend Severfield’s current capabilities into the growing nuclear, process industries and power generation.

Harry Peers has also demonstrated capability in modular structural steel offerings, which Severfield will look to develop across its wider product range. 

It also offers opportunities to expand into Europe.

Alan Dunsmore, chief executive officer, Severfield said: “Harry Peers’s experience in specialist, highly regulated, non-cyclical markets will enhance our future growth plans through expanding the group’s capabilities and sector reach.

Severfied said: “We believe Severfield is best placed to help Harry Peers continue its profitable growth trajectory, through increased scale and investment and together with Harry Peers’s strong management team we have a real opportunity to develop a broader position within the UK structural steel services market.”