With combined revenue approaching £250 million, the new enlarged group has 52 distribution and processing sites extending from the north of Scotland to London and the South West and over 1300 employees.

The transaction is being supported by further investment from Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP.

The National Timber Group is a collective of added-value timber distribution companies, which include Thornbridge Sawmills, North Yorkshire Timber and Rembrand. Together they serve joiners, regional housebuilders, commercial companies and infrastructure projects. As a specialist supplier of timber, sheet and joinery products, with substantial warehousing, processing and distribution capabilities, it is able to provide a broad range of high quality products on short lead times, supported by comprehensive timber knowledge and expertise.

Headquartered in Sheffield, Arnold Laver is the timber division of Arnold Laver Holdings Limited, a family run company first established in 1920. It imports, distributes and manufactures a wide range of timber, panels, decorative surfaces and joinery products, serving public and private sector construction, house-building and commercial companies.

Its customers include blue chip construction companies and it is a favoured timber supplier for major infrastructure projects that include the 2012 Olympics, Hinkley Point Power Station, HS2 and the Thames Tideway. With its annual turnover in excess of £130m, it has 13 strategically located distribution and processing depots across the UK, providing national coverage; a national production centre at Mosborough near Sheffield and a highly skilled and experienced workforce of over 750 employees.

The enlarged Group will be led by Rob Barclay, group chief executive, who joined The National Timber Group in June.

The group will have three divisions: a Scottish division that is headquarted in Grangemouth and led by Alex McLeod, who joined the group as managing director, Scotland, in September; one headquartered in Sheffield led by the Arnold Laver management team and a third headquartered in Northallerton and led by Nick Kershaw, managing director.

Each of the underlying companies will retain their trading names.

Rob Barclay said: “We are delighted to partner with Arnold Laver and welcome them to the Group. The merger is highly complementary – together, we are able extend our presence nationwide, pursue further growth and are well positioned to capitalise on the market leading position we have established. Additionally, our values, vision and commitment to customers are completely aligned, which creates exciting opportunities for us both.”

The transaction was led by Neil McGill, investment director at Cairngorm Capital, who added: “The UK timber market remains highly fragmented and offers many opportunities for well, organised, high quality businesses such as The National Timber Group and Arnold Laver. As investors, we have been working hard to find opportunities to scale our timber interests rapidly so we are delighted to be able to support this partnership. We believe we now have a great platform for further growth under the leadership of an exceptional management team.”