A New Hampshire steel building manufacturer has acquired another company and says that will lead to greater regional economic growth.

CanAm Steel CEO Marcel Dutil promises that his company's recent acquisition of Eastern Bridge will come with expansion plans that include anywhere from 100-120 new jobs.

"We have plants in America already, but we're looking to expand in the U.S., especially in the Northeast region," he said.

CanAm was founded in Saint-Gideon, Quebec, in 1960. The company makes metal materials used for just about any industrial structure, including steel buildings, decks, and more.

"I purchased the company in 1972," Dutil said. "It was an unstable market at the time but I knew we had a good work force."

The steel building manufacturer operates 12 plants in Canada, America, Romania and India, and has partnerships with companies in Mexico, France, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and China.

"This plant in Claremont is a good size one," said Dutil. "We can double or perhaps even triple our capacity there ... we feel very good about what we have there, it's a great work force there already."

CanAm and sister company ManAc (CanAm backward) had a commercial metal building constructed by Duncan Hunter Construction in the early 1970s.

But CanAm lasted only about 10 years in Claremont. After opening around 1971, they closed in the early '80s and the metal building sat vacant until fairly recently.

"In the fall of 1984 my business partner and I purchased the building and began what's now Customized Structure Inc.," the exec said. "We sold it in 2003 to a group of venture capitalists who bought the old Proctor and Gamble Tambrands building where CSI is now."

The decision by CanAm to return to Claremont comes at a time when the metal building industry could see a boom.

"I think they've got themselves a potential gold mine in Eastern Bridge ... With the current state of infrastructure in this country, there's going to be a large demand for it."