Independent plumbing and heating merchant Pochin has acquired the West Midlands merchant Plumbwares.

The deal for the Stourbridge business, completed in January 2014, is Pochin’s first in the region following years of investment in the East Midlands.

Pochin has acquired 100% of the share capital of Plumbwares, based at Dudley Road in Lye, for an undisclosed price funded by the independent business and will trade as a subsidiary of Robert Pochin.

Plumbwares, which has an excellent reputation with its loyal customer base, will retain its well-known name. While it will be business as usual, customers will benefit from access to additional product lines brought in by Pochin.

Pochin managing director, David Pochin, said: “Plumbwares is a very good business where the standards of customer service and competitive pricing is a perfect fit for Pochin’s own approach to trade.

“We welcome our nine new colleagues to the Pochin family and look forward to working closely with the highly respected and experienced team to enhance the offer in Stourbridge.”

Plumbwares was founded in 2002 by Mike Clarke, who will remain with the business, as will his manager Dave Jasper. Pochin’s trade sales development manager Pete Trickett will help oversee the integration of Pumbwares into Pochin.

Mr Clarke said: “I’m very pleased to be passing Plumbwares into the very safe hands of Pochin. We share a common approach to serving our customers and looking after our employees.”

The deal for Plumbwares is Pochin’s first acquisition since the 2005 purchase of Norman and Underwood’s plumbers’ merchant branch in Hinckley. Since then Pochin has opened three branches – in Loughborough, Market Harborough and its head office branch at Leicester’s Murrayfield Road – and recently invested heavily in a new trade counter and consumer showroom in Leicester city centre.

Mr Pochin said: “We have never stopped investing in the business, and the timing is good for us to continue to expand our horizons. Plumbwares is an ideal acquisition and enables us to enter a new trading area for the business.”