CARR'S Group has made an acquisition in Germany.

The Carlisle-based agriculture and engineering group has bought Staber GmbH, a family-owned engineering business located near the Carr's German subsidiary, Wälischmiller Engineering, in Markdorf.

It plans to fully integrate Staber into Wälischmiller over the next 18 months.

The deal is worth 7.85m euro (£6.98m), or 6.75m euro (£6.0m) after adjusting for estimated net cash within Staber at completion.

Carr's says that Staber and Wälischmiller have been working closely for more than 50 years and that Staber has been a key supplier.

During 2014 and 2015, Staber was intrinsic in helping Wälischmiller in the development of the Demo 2000 Telbot, a robotic system for vessel inspection and cleaning in the oil and gas market.

Carr's also says that Staber has designed and developed specialised intellectual property, which will be beneficial to Wälischmiller.

To ensure the successful integration and transfer of the intellectual property, 2.0m euro of the purchase price will be deferred until, at the latest, June 2018.

Chief executive Tim Davies said: “This family run business has been a key partner of Wälischmillerfor over half a century and this acquisition is a seamless extension of this long standing relationship.

"Carr's will benefit from the introduction of new technologies into the group as well as the operational synergies that will come from this acquisition.

“This purchase is fully aligned with the engineering division's growth strategy of capitalising on the global resurgence of nuclear decommissioning as well as the use of robotic technologies in highly explosive environments.”