Elkhart-based RV company Thor Industries is buying its Middlebury-based competitor Jayco Corp.

The $576 million deal combines two of the largest RV manufacturers in the country and will make Jayco a publicly traded company, the South Bend Tribune reported. Before the purchase agreement was signed Thursday, Jayco was privately owned by the Bontrager family.

“One of the things we found most attractive about Thor was their decentralized business structure, which allows their subsidiaries to continue operating independently,” Derald Bontrager, president and CEO of Jayco, said in a statement. “Most importantly, within this structure, our current leadership team will continue to manage Jayco, just as we have been running it since our founding. We will continue with the same focus our father had on serving our dealers and consumers better than anyone else in the industry.”

Read more about the sale in the story from the South Bend Tribune.