Busy Bees continues to grow with Montessori acquisition
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Busy Bees has acquired two more settings, bringing its total number of nurseries to 354.
The UK's largest nursery group has bought kidsUniverse, a chain of two Montessori day nurseries in the London borough of Harrow, which provide care for 152 children.
With the deal, Busy Bees now operates 354 nurseries in the UK, offering more than 31,600 childcare places.
kidsUniverse (pictured below) was established by Mr and Mrs Shah in 2010. The first nursery in Kenton opened in 2013, followed by a second nursery in Harrow three years later. Both nurseries are rated good by Ofsted.
Marg Randles, chief academic officer and co-founder of Busy Bees, said, ‘It’s fantastic to be able to welcome kidsUniverse to our growing portfolio. We want to provide the best possible outcomes to children in our care and I look forward to working with their talented and likeminded teams to continue giving the children the best start in life.’
Pulkit Shah, former owner of kidsUniverse, said, 'Since 2010 we’ve ensured that our children are supported through every step of their development to get them ready for their start in education. I believe that Busy Bees is the right group to take kidsUniverse forward to continue giving our children all the care and resources they need to succeed.'
Jenna Caldwell, head of childcare at Redwoods Dowling Kerr, who managed the sale, said, ‘It was pleasure assisting our clients with the sale of their impressive nursery group. This was again a highly confidential sale conducted via our corporate sales process in which we received significant amounts of interest from numerous corporate and regional operators from not only the UK, but also overseas. I am delighted that our clients achieved their desired results.’
The deal follows a string of acquisitions by Busy Bees last year including the purchase of the Daisy and Jake Day Nursery group of six settings, along with the Droitwich Spa Nursery and Kindergarten.
