Care Aspirations, the mental health services group, has been acquired by GI Partners, the Anglo-American private equity group, underlining how the defensive qualities of the psychiatric care market are proving increasingly attractive to buy-out investors.

The deal comes as GI Partners, founded in 2000 by a splinter group from Guy Hands’s team at Nomura Principal Finance, has raised $1.8bn (£972m) towards its $2.5bn target for its third and biggest buy-out fund.