Nursing and care staffing specialists Nurse Plus has seen a management buy-out worth £15m.

This was backed by a £6.5m investment by private equity house Key Capital Partners (KCP), which will be used to expand the company to 40 branches within the next five years. It currently has 26 bases predominantly across South and Central England.

KCP partner Mike Fell and director Philip Duquenoy join the Nurse Plus board.

The Co-Operative Bank also provided a £4.3m debt facility.

Mark Kingston, senior consultant at M&A advisory house Boxington Corporate Finance, comments to Recruiter: “The deal highlights again private equity appetite for the healthcare recruitment niche and follows YFM Private Equity’s investment in Castlerock earlier this year.

“With the absence of a strong domestic M&A consolidator, owners of healthcare recruitment businesses will need to look to the international trade buyer market to achieve their eventual exit.”