A retail and financial services firm has undergone a management buyout backed by private equity house LDC.

OCS Asset Solutions, whose West Midlands base is in Oldbury, has been acquired from international facilities management services company OCS Group.

The deal, which includes a £13 million investment from LDC, will see the firm's six-strong management team co-invest for a significant stake.

The company will now trade as Retail & Asset Solutions and Vehicle & Asset Solutions in the UK and Retail & Vehicle Solutions in Ireland.

It provides supply chain management, stocktaking and merchandising services to the grocery and general retail sector as well as vehicle and asset auditing to the finance and banking sector.

Customers include names such as Sainsbury's, Jack Wills and Tesco and it generated sales of £35 million in 2017 and said it expected to achieve growth of around 15 per cent in the current year.

Following the deal, the management team plans to invest further in technology-enabled services, consolidate the company's position in the UK and review expansion opportunities into several overseas markets where it sees significant growth potential.

The management buyout team is led by chief executive Lois Heywood and Greg Ball, who has held board positions with Littlewoods and Home Retail Group, has been recruited as non-executive chairman.

LDC's investment directors Rob Schofield and Victoria Marcer will also join the board.

Ms Heywood said: "This is an exciting development for the business, our customers, our people and our partners.

"OCS Group has been a supportive parent company which has helped us develop a strong proposition and position in the market.

"Bringing on board an experienced investor like LDC means we can now accelerate investment in our services and further unlock the potential we see across our business and the markets in which we operate, both in the UK and overseas.

"With increasing demand for more sophisticated, technology-enabled assurance and audit services from the retail and financial sectors, we're now ideally placed to continue our growth and help more customers reduce operating costs."

Mr Schofield added: "We've been working with Lois, OCS and the management team for a number of months to get this transaction to fruition.

"We've been hugely impressed by the quality and drive of the management team and the breadth and quality of the customer offering for both the retail and finance sectors."

Advisers acting on the deal were PwC, Browne Jacobson, Shakespeare Martineau and BDO.