Fri, 12 Nov 2021 | BUSINESS SALE
European investment firm Fremman has acquired a majority stake in UK nursery chain Kids Planet, in a deal which sees private equity growth fund BGF exit the business after five years. The acquisition comes as one of the biggest recent deals in the UK’s thriving childcare sector. Kids Planet was recently featured as a case study in this BSR insight, which took a deep dive into the UK's resurgent childcare M&A market.
Following the acquisition, investment from Fremman will accelerate the company’s national expansion, as well as enabling new senior hires and an ongoing recruitment drive. BGF’s exit, meanwhile, has seen it generate a 3x MM on its initial 2016 investment.
Cheshire-headquartered Kids Planet was founded by Clare Roberts and her father John Hoban in 2008. In 2016, at which time the company operated 17 nurseries, BGF made an initial £10 million investment in the business and has since made follow-on investments worth over £30 million, enabling the business to achieve significant acquisitive growth.
This has seen Kids Planet grow to become the UK’s largest independent private nursery operator, and third largest overall, with 82 sites and more than 7,500 childcare places. During its partnership with BGF, the company’s EBITDA has grown five-fold.
BGF’s investment has also enabled regional growth, with the company recently expanding from its traditional North West base into Oxford. In its most recent financial accounts, for the year ending March 2020, Kids Planet reported pre-tax profits of £2.5 million on turnover of £33.3 million.
Kids Planet Founder and CEO Clare Roberts said: "In many ways Kids Planet is unrecognisable from where we were five years ago. With our BGF partnership, we've scaled significantly, launched our own training academy and acquired one of our key competitors – all of which has allowed us to take the business to the next level.”
"We have continued with an unwavering commitment to providing an outstanding level of childcare, as a matter of priority, which has been key to our success. There is significant opportunity in the market right now for acquisitions and for recruiting as we continue to scale. With renewed investment, we look forward to working with Fremman, and replicating our success in further regions across the UK."
BGF’s head in the North West, Neil Inskip, added: "Kids Planet epitomises what BGF was set up to do: back brilliant businesses that are looking to scale. Over the last five years we have also been able to provide Kids Planet with several significant follow-on investments, which has enabled the business to meet its growth ambitions more quickly. The exit of our original investment has generated a high return on BGF's capital and clearly demonstrates the high quality of entrepreneurs and businesses we are backing."
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