sister site shut down - will 301 permanent redir keep the links?

I don't want to lose links...

[Craig_F]

the sites are very related, after some prodding my clients are agreeing to rolling them into one. is a 301 permanent redirect the best way to go? both sites have quite a few links (and decent pr) and I don't want to lose any.

<added>

I wasn't clear, what I mean is will the 301 redir be better than keeping the existing site there and refocusing it a bit, or can I safely shut the other site down and gain the PR and links at which even one we keep?

</added>

[ewanfisher]

I would go with a 301 PageRank will not be losted if you do the 301 properly. As Googlebot will realise the new location of the content and the links to it.