Bradford-based Garnett Group has acquired New Zealand firm Streat Instruments for an undisclosed sum.

Streat Instruments is based in Christchurch and the sale is the result of a long association between the two organisations.

The takeover deal was signed by Alan Brydon, chief executive of the Garnett Group based in Water Lane and Garth Streat, founder of the Streat Group.

Mr Brydon said: "This is a very exciting development for us. We have worked very closely with Streat for many years so we know each other well.

"We have been jointly working on new areas such as the development, manufacture and distribution of the Aquaflex soil moisture measurement sensor, which is now widely used in agriculture and sports applications internationally.

"The new structure will help us further develop these new markets and consolidate our strengths. Streat Products fits perfectly within our organisation and we look forward to continuing further joint developments for a number of different market sectors."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.