* July 1999 Asquith Court Schools buys Gatehouse group. * February 2000 Busy Bees secures 50m funding from Gresham Trust to establish up to 90 nurseries, targeting the health sector.
* July 1999 Asquith Court Schools buys Gatehouse group.
* February 2000 Busy Bees secures 50m funding from Gresham Trust to establish up to 90 nurseries, targeting the health sector.
* June 2000 Nurseryworks is acquired by US company Bright Horizons Family Solutions (not to be confused with UK group Bright Horizons).
* August 2000 Healthcare giant BUPA acquires Teddies, a group with 18 nurseries in London and the south east.
* November 2000 Busy Bees acquires nine nurseries from St Albans-based chain Copperbeech. It has also bought two Tibbitots day nurseries in Lancashire and Merseyside.
* December 2000 BHFS establishes a foothold in Ireland with the purchase of Dublin-based Circle of Friends, one of just two groups in the Republic that are known to Nursery World.
