Grant Thornton advises Chestnut Nursery Schools on sale to AcadeMedia

One of many UK’s largest founder-owned nursery teams, with over 20 settings throughout the East of England and East London, has been acquired by AcadeMedia. Grant Thornton supplied sell-side recommendation all through the deal.

Based over 20 years in the past by Steven Davies and David Saunders from a single website, Chestnut has grown into a bunch of 21 nurseries spanning three areas: Cambridge, Norfolk and East London. The enterprise has remained impartial owned all through, making it one of many largest few founder-owned nursery teams working at this scale within the UK.

For AcadeMedia, the acquisition represents their first transfer into the UK nursery market, including a confirmed, regionally various early years schooling supplier to their European portfolio. The Stockholm-headquartered agency was launched in 1996, and operates preschools, main and secondary faculties and grownup schooling throughout the Nordics, Finland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Mills & Reeve, led by Companion Jonathan Greenwood, supplied authorized recommendation to the Chestnut shareholders. In the meantime, Grant Thornton assumed the function of lead advisor on the sale of Chestnut Nursery Schools. Stuart Davies, company finance associate, headed the agency’s advisory staff, which supplied a completely built-in service throughout company finance, tax, monetary modelling and monetary due diligence.

Davies stated, “Chestnut is a genuinely spectacular enterprise – constructed from a single nursery in East London right into a 21-site group over twenty years, with a repute for high quality that speaks for itself. The founders set a transparent objective, and it was a privilege to convey collectively our groups to ship a consequence they might be pleased with. We want Chestnut each success as a part of the AcadeMedia household.”

Grant Thornton is led by practically 300 companions and powered by practically 5,000 individuals within the UK. The transaction underlines the agency’s observe document within the schooling and early years sector, and its capability to ship absolutely built-in advisory providers for founder-owned companies at pivotal moments of their journey.

Steven Davies, co-founder of Chestnut Nursery Schools added, “It was a pleasure working with the Grant Thornton staff, whose skilled recommendation and proactive assist had been instrumental in delivering a profitable transaction. Having constructed Chestnut throughout greater than 20 years, reaching our aims was massively essential. Their steering has positioned the enterprise strongly for its subsequent part, and we’re delighted with the end result.”