Alamo Group Europe, which already owns British manufacturing names such as McConnel, Twose, Bomford and Spearhead, has bought sprayer-maker Kellands and its subsidiary Multidrive Tractors.

Kellands, which is based near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, has specialised in self-propelled sprayers since it was founded in 1987 and had sales of more than £6.5m last year.

Keith Pashley, Director of Sales & Marketing will head up the Kellands team and will report directly to Christian Davies, Alamo Group Europe's head of Agriculture in the UK. Chris Kelland, who founded the company in 1987 will continue to represent the business as a non-exclusive sales agent for the sales territories of Australia and New Zealand.

“This is a part of continuing business strategy to enter into the agricultural self-propelled sprayer market" says Christian Davies "Additionally the Multidrive unit will provide a tractor platform for carrying a range of equipment for both our agricultural and Industrial businesses.” Dr. Geoffrey Davies, Managing Director of Alamo Group Europe Ltd. commented, "This is an exciting development in our European operations and assists us in broadening our presence in the manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery”.

Alamo was founded in 1969 and has about 2,550 employees across North America and Europe.