HIGH-profile auction house Tennants of Leyburn is expanding and adding specialist departments after buying a similar business in the Midlands.

Leicestershire company Heathcote Ball has come under Tennants' wing following the death of director John Ball in a hunting accident last year.

The company, renamed Tennants Heathcote Ball, will continue to operate in the Midlands, but will still be known as Tennants in the north.

Rodney Tennant said yesterday that John Ball had been a friend and his untimely death had been a great loss.

"It was John's fervent wish to see his business continue to prosper," he said.

"We frequently discussed how our two companies might combine forces. Though I am deeply saddened that John is not here to see it, we will carry on his business, offering John's clients an enhanced service."

Mr Tennant runs the Leyburn business with his brother John. It was started in the late 19th Century by their grandfather in Middleham.

The firm now turns over about £7.4m worth of sales each year, through weekly general sales and regular fine art sales, which draw consignments and bidders from as far afield as American and Asia.