Unigestion has sold Kindred Nurseries to Livingbridge
Kindred Nurseries
Founded in 2015, Kindred Nurseries is one of the UK’s leading nursery groups with approximately 50 settings across the Midlands and South East. With backing from Unigestion and led by one of the sector’s most experienced management teams, Kindred has enjoyed exceptional organic and inorganic growth, doubling the number of sites in its portfolio between 2021 and 2024. Today, Kindred provides high quality, professional childcare to 2,000 children aged 3 months to 5 years old.
The Deal
Lincoln International acted as the exclusive mergers and acquisitions advisor to Kindred’s shareholders, which resulted in a majority stake sale to Livingbridge. Unigestion has reinvested in the business in a meaningful way from its latest direct fund. Lincoln led the process throughout all deal stages, exploring domestic and international trade along with private equity sale options and ran a comprehensive lender education process. This deal is the fifth early years education transaction completed in the last three years, underpinning Lincoln’s market leading expertise in the global education sector.
Our Perspective
Edward Lethbridge, Lincoln International Managing Director who led the transaction, commented, “It has been a pleasure to work with Unigestion and Kindred’s talented leadership team led by Ruth Pimentel. In a consolidating market, Kindred stands out for its differentiated approach; geographically focused on high demand areas, carefully integrating acquisitions under the highly regarded Kindred brand and empowering nursery managers to make a valuable contribution to the culture and success of the group.”
Unigestion
Unigestion is an independently owned, Swiss-based asset manager with approximately €20.5 billion of assets under management. It invests globally across all market segments, with a particular focus on the mid-market and tailors its investments to the needs of its partners and portfolio companies.
Livingbridge
Livingbridge is a mid-market private equity investor that has made more than 170 platform investments over the last 30 years. It has approximately £3.5 billion of assets under management and employs more than 100 people across the UK, U.S. and Australia.
We are very grateful to Lincoln for the expertise and support they provided in advising us on the sale of Kindred. It’s been a really strong partnership and a positive outcome.
Going through an exit process for the first time is very daunting but Ed and his team were with us every step of the way and provided excellent advice and support.
Meet our Senior Team
I build trust with clients by putting their interests first at all times.
Aude Doyen
Managing Director & Co-head of Capital Advisory, Europe
London
It’s extremely rewarding to work in one of the largest and most diverse global business sectors helping support clients to realize their goals.
Matthew Lee
Managing Director, Head of UK & Co-head of Healthcare, Europe
London
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