A Black Country provider of schools meals has been bought out by multinational catering company Sodexo.

Alliance in Partnership, which is based in Oldbury, is a specialist educational catering business which feeds almost 85,000 pupils and students a day in schools and colleges across the UK.

Sodexo was founded in France in 1966 and now employs around 425,000 people in 80 countries.

Leeds-based private equity house Key Capital Partners backed a management buyout of Alliance in Partnership in 2014 with a £5.2 million investment since when its sales have climbed from £14 million to £38 million.

In addition to organic growth, Alliance in Partnership acquired Class Catering and The Contract Dining Company during that period and took the number of schools it serves from 170 in 2014 to 400 this year.

Employee numbers have more than doubled, rising from 700 to over 1,500.

Managing director Paul Rogers said: "Alliance in Partnership has always been committed to serving freshly cooked, locally sourced and innovative food at a value for money price.

"This simple strategy has paid dividends over the last four years and we look forward to continuing this strategy with our new partners at Sodexo."

Owen Trotter, managing partner of Key Capital Partners, added: "It has been a pleasure to be a member of the Alliance in Partnership board and work with the team over the last four years.

"We are very pleased to have been able to support the company during this period of growth and we are proud to have been associated with the success of such a high quality business providing a worthwhile product."

Advisers acting on the deal were Alantra, Mills and Reeve, Grant Thornton and Eversheds Sutherland.

Terms of the buyout were not disclosed.