Mid-market buyout specialist ECI Partners has sold vocational training firm The Hotel and Catering Training Company (HCTC) to London-listed support services group VT, in a £10 million deal.

VT has agreed to pay cash for the business, which provides Government-funded training courses to the hospitality and catering markets. ‘The acquisition will create the UK’s largest private training company in this sector,’ states VT chief executive Paul Lester.

ECI first backed HCTC through a management buyout in 1998 and has overseen considerable advances in a business that can now claim the likes of Whitbread, Marriott Hotels and Hilton amongst its customer base. For the year to July the company, which now operates from 21 UK offices, generated £14 million of revenue. Lester predicts an operating profit contribution of £1 million for the current year too.

‘HCTC demonstrates our ability to implement successful turnaround strategies and we leave it in a strong position to continue this progress,’ adds ECI’s Chris Warren.