Meadow Paper is based in Glasgow and was set up in 2005 by former Robert Horne regional manager for Scotland George Watson.

Beswick Paper managing director Graham Griffiths said the deal would make the firm's range available to printers in Scotland via Meadow.

This will provide competition to the other merchants in the region, most notably PaperlinX-owned Robert Horne, Donald Murray Paper and Howard Smith.

Griffiths said the tie in with Meadow was part of Beswick's strategy to grow organically, through acquisitions or by strategic alliances.

Watson said that with Beswick on board he had an opportunity to grow and develop Meadow Paper.

Meanwhile, Beswick has also become an associate firm of the Igepa Group, one of the major pan-European paper merchant groups.

Griffiths said Beswick had joined Igepa to achieve economies of scale in the firm's purchasing power.

"It improves our buying, protects our supply routes and gives us access to numerous product ranges to support future growth," said Griffiths.

Igepa has members in more than 20 countries, including Australia and New Zealand and a combined turnover of 1.1bn (1.55bn).