A hi-tech Bradford company that sterilises equipment for the health sector has snapped up a European rival.

In one of the first major deals to be done in euros in the UK, Isotron paid 54.8m euros (£34m) for the Gammaster Group - doubling its business.

Both companies use gamma radiation processing plants to sterilise a range of products, mainly for the healthcare and packaging industries.

The deal will make the enlarged Isotron group the European market leader and place it third in the world, with a 15 per cent market share, after Belgian firm IBA and American company Steris.

The company has 19 plants, of which seven are in the UK, including its Bradford site on the Euroway Trading Estate, which employs a 20-strong workforce.

Hailing the agreement, chief executive John Barker said: "The funding of this acquisition has enabled us to strengthen the group.

"We now have the critical mass and geographical coverage to bid for pan-European contracts."

He added that the company had benefited greatly from the growing tendency of medical device companies to put the sterilisation of their 'single use' products out to tender.

International business bank Fortis helped to finance the deal, with a loan of 25m euros (£15.5m) and five million euros (£3.1m) in working capital for the group.

Isotron's global business made pre-tax profits for the year ending June 30, 2001, of £4.4m, on sales of £15m.