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Black Country merchant Brownhills Glass has acquired a south east rival in a £2.4 million deal as part of a planned expansion across the country.

Finance director Mark Harrison told the Post the move was the next step in the firm's growth as it looked to increase it geographical reach on the back of increased demand from customers.

Launched in 1979, Walsall-based Brownhills Glass is a glass merchant and processor and teamed up with Bath investment firm Chelverton Asset Management to buy Crawley company Tufwell Glass from Laidlaw Interiors Group

Tufwell is a long-established glass processing business and supplies toughened, laminated and mirrored glass with London's Shard and Olympic Park among its list of recent clients.

Mr Harrison said it was the company's first significant acquisition in terms of size after it bought Wiltshire-based processing unit Corsham Glass Centre in May last year.

It now employs circa 80 staff across the group with the Tufwell Glass deal almost doubling the payroll.

"What we're very keen to do is try to grow the business through our geographical presence," he said.

"Tufwell Glass is a good fit as it's on the doorstep of Greater London which is a not a part of the world we do an enormous amount of business in ourselves. It made sense from this angle and they have a good business which has been around a long time.