Close Brothers Growth Capital (CBGC), a debt and equity finance unit of Close Brothers, and Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking, a mezzanine provider, have backed the £15m (€21m) secondary buyout of Walker Group, a UK bingo operator.

The vendor was Natwest Development Capital, the venture capital arm of Royal Bank of Scotland, in 1999. The two investors have bought the chain of 13 clubs, which has a turnover of £11m a year.