CVC provides £37.5m financing for Sovereign-backed Nurse Plus

Katharine Hidalgo
20 November 2020

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CVC Credit Partners has become the sole underwriter to Sovereign Capital Partners portfolio company Nurse Plus.

The first lien credit facility offers £37.5m to refinance the company's existing debt facility and to support its growth strategy. A source close to the situation told Unquote: "Due to strong earnings growth, the company was able to raise additional bank debt to redeem some founder and Sovereign Capital loan notes, and also to reduce its overall cost of capital."

Previous funding
KCP backed the £15m MBO of Nurse Plus in July 2012, with the growth investor supplying £6.5m in equity. According to Unquote Data, the deal was supported with $4.3m in debt supplied by The Co-operative Bank.

Sovereign Capital purchased Nurse Plus from previous sponsor Key Capital Partners (KCP) in January 2015. The deal marked an exit for KCP after just two and a half years. According to a source close to the transaction, the deal generated a return of around 5x for KCP. The transaction was supported with working capital facilities provided by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. Crescent Capital Group also provided debt financing to support the transaction.

Company
Founded in 2005, Nurse Plus is a provider of nursing and care personnel to both the UK's health and social care sectors. The business has more than 50 branches, from which it recruits, develops and manages more than 2,500 highly trained healthcare workers.

The Ashford-based business generated £76.2m in revenues in the year ending on 30 September 2019.

People
CVC Credit Partners – Neale Broadhead (head, European private debt).