The Alphabet House group of nurseries that have been acquired are located in Beeston, Lowdham, West Bridgford and White Post, and will add 348 places to Kindred’s overall nursery capacity.
A specialist educational legal team at Setfords, led by Helen Wong MBE (PGCE), has completed a strategically important sale of four nurseries in Nottingham to the growing award-winning group, Kindred Education.
The deal means Kindred’s footprint of nursery places has increased by 15 per cent.
Alphabet, established by husband-and-wife team Tony and Marie Brentford nearly 30 years ago, was set up with a strong vision of giving children the very best start in life. An important requirement in the deal for the founders was to ensure a company acquiring Alphabet had a similar ethos to carry on their life’s work.
According to Tony and Marie, it was the dedication of Ruth Pimentel, the Chief Executive of Kindred, together with the passion of Kindred’s employees that were key deciding factors in going ahead with the sale. Kindred was, they said, “their perfect match and a perfect complement to the Alphabet family.”
The deal sees Kindred Education grow to 36 nurseries, providing more than 2,300 Early Years Foundation Stage learning places and childcare provision within the company’s main operating regions of the UK – which are within the M25, and in the South and East of England.
Chief Executive of Kindred Education, Ruth Pimentel said:
“The passion of the former owners of Alphabet House was evident, and they were keen to know that the settings would continue to be looked after and further developed. We are excited to start a new phase with Alphabet House being a key part of that development.”
Andrew Coulter, of Coulter Consulting, who brokered the sale, added:
“The transaction sailed through to completion with ease and both sides have said with real sincerity that every minor issue was resolved with a common-sense approach. I am certain that Kindred will create many opportunities for growth and career development for the loyal workforce.”
Tony and Marie Brentford jointly stated:
“We worked with Helen Wong MBE at Setfords on the sale of the Alphabet House nursery group and we would highly recommend her, as she dealt skilfully with the sale and offered solutions to challenging aspects of the deal, which she also helped to resolve expediently.
“Helen was very impressive and she was available at all times to resolve any issues that came up, kept the transaction moving, liaised with our accountant so everyone was on the same page and we completed the sale extremely quickly.
“Some solicitors in our past experience can be poor at communication, but Helen is not one of those lawyers. She is very responsive, friendly and approachable, explains things clearly and never stops working until the deal is done.
“On Helen’s team was Jonathan Senior, a property expert, who was equally as instrumental. We would like to thank both Helen and Jonathan for their efforts and would have no hesitation in recommending them to other nursery operators who are thinking of selling.”
The four Alphabet House settings were sold for an undisclosed price.
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Helen said:
“We are thrilled to help Tony and Marie with this sale. It’s a great fit and they can be assured their beautiful nurseries are in safe hands.”
Reflecting on the market, Helen Wong added:
“The day nursery market in the UK is experiencing an unprecedented level of deal activity with owners choosing to put their business up for sale post the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Deals have included the sale of nursery groups, as well as single-site operators and the demand is strong with bidding wars between buyers on numerous transactions.
“With economic uncertainty, spiralling utility costs, staff shortages and the nervousness of a recession on the horizon, the number of seller mandates seems to be on the increase.
“We would be pleased to assist any other nursery operators who are looking to exit as we are approached daily by all the big groups who have an appetite to buy more day nurseries and continue their rapid expansion plans. We specialise in sales of day nurseries and also demerger work.”
