The deal takes the number of the acquirer’s employees in the region to some 2,000 and introduces clients such as Leeds County Council to its business.

Connaught, which is headquartered in Exeter and has offices throughout the UK, bought the company for £8.7 million. Under the terms of the agreement, £2 million of this sum has been deferred until the transaction’s first anniversary and will be paid in cash.

The group targeted Baldwins, which comprises A Baldwin (Builders), Apollo Plant and AB Electrical, as part of a strategy to strengthen its regional housing maintenance operations around the UK.

Baldwins, which has more than 500 employees at offices in Leeds, Harrogate, Bradford and Teesside, will continue to trade under its brand and be led by managing director Peter Baldwin.

Connaught’s social housing business provides refurbishment, maintenance and estate management services to local authorities. Its compliance division is primarily a gas servicing business but it also provides electrical, fabric, fire and water maintenance services.

Baldwins provides maintenance and compliance services to social landlords in Yorkshire and the surrounding area such as local authorities and housing associations. For the year ending June 2006, the group reported turnover of £44 million and an operating profit of £1.1 million, before exceptional items.