All About Children has been sold to Partou, a portfolio company of Waterland Private Equity
All About Children
Founded in 2010, All About Children is a leading UK nursery operator with a portfolio of 38 nurseries located across London and the home counties. Led by an experienced management team, All About Children has developed a proven and highly differentiated model of acquiring nurseries in affluent catchment areas which offer the potential for significant value creation and transforming them into nurseries with leading local reputations. Today, All About Children provides education to around 3,500 children and employs over 850 staff.
The Deal
After 12 years of successful growth led by the founders, Lincoln supported All About Children in finding a new partner to support management in accelerating their ongoing journey. Lincoln acted as the exclusive financial adviser, providing full sell-side process management and leveraging Lincoln’s global presence, as the deal ultimately completed with the sale to Partou, one of the largest childcare organizations in Europe.
Throughout the process, Lincoln supported management by providing a combination of industry and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) expertise, particularly through diligence and negotiation phases, allowing management to focus on managing the business and executing their growth strategy.
Our Perspective
Matthew Lee, Managing Director and co-head of Lincoln’s European Healthcare Group, commented, “All About Children’s reputation as a premium and high-quality operator has allowed it to successfully navigate recent sector headwinds resulting from Covid-19 lockdowns and staffing challenges. The business is ideally positioned to benefit from growing sector demand driven by dynamics such as increased female workforce participation and a growing preference for formal childcare. In combination with Partou, All About Children is well placed to become one of the leading operators in the highly fragmented UK nursery sector. We look forward to seeing the business grow under Partou’s ownership.”
Zack Shah, Managing Director and head of Lincoln’s education services, added, “This transaction highlights the growing trend of cross border consolidation in the early education sector. The deal strengthens Lincoln’s deep global expertise and is our second marquee nursery transaction in Europe in the last 15 months, following the sale of KMK Kinderzimmer to Haniel in 2021.”
Partou
Partou is one of the largest European providers of early education, caring for over 65,000 children in more than 700 settings throughout the Netherlands and the UK (operating under the Just Childcare brand in the UK). Partou is backed by Waterland Private Equity.
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
View More Transactions in Healthcare
Any information or testimonials contained in this post may not be representative of the experience of other clients and is no guarantee of future performance or success.