PERTH-based transport group Stagecoach has paid £2.8 million to Aberdeen-headquartered rival FirstGroup for a bus business in the south-west of England.
The deal sees Stagecoach Devon acquire the business and assets of First Devon and Cornwall in North Devon and Torridge.
The Office of Fair Trading needs to approve the deal.
The North Devon business has around 100 employees and a fleet of more than 30 buses which operate on ten routes in the region. It also includes a small depot at Barnstaple. The business's turnover for last year was around £3m.
Stagecoach, headed by Sir Brian Souter, has run services from Barnstaple since 2006, where it operates 48 buses and has 120 staff.
Les Warneford, managing director of Stagecoach UK Bus, said: "Stagecoach has a long tradition of operating high quality services for people in the south-west of England and attracting people out of their cars and on to greener, smarter bus travel.
"We believe our acquisition of the North Devon business would deliver a more sustainable combined bus network for the long term.
"It would protect and improve services for the local community, help support future investment in better vehicles and offer good value fares for customers."
FirstGroup chief executive Tim O'Toole said: "The sale of our North Devon operations marks a further step in our ongoing programme to pursue selective asset and business disposals as part of our strategy to review the scope and scale of our business as we position our UK bus division for the longer term.
"We remain focused on developing the opportunities that exist to transition to increased growth within our networks through targeted investment in staff, systems, new vehicles and technology while retaining our strong cost discipline."
The North Devon operations will become part of Stagecoach South West.
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