Just Childcare on acquisition trail with new bank funding

Just Childcare's headquarters

North West nursery group Just Childcare has secured a further multimillion-pound investment from Allied Irish Bank to support its continued acquisition strategy, with the group planning further growth this year.

Manchester-based Just Childcare is currently the fifth largest nursery group in the UK and has been expanding both organically and through a series of acquisitions, with the most recent one Harrogate nursery group, Funcare, completed in March.

This has extended the portfolio to 53 nurseries, providing more than 3,500 child places across its group of nurseries in the North West, Yorkshire and South West.

Just Childcare was established in 2004 by directors David and Jaqueline Johnson who have between them 65 years of childcare and education experience.

In 2014 Phoenix Equity Partners invested into the business, commencing a buy and build strategy.

Today, Just Childcare employs around 900 staff across its 53 settings, all of which are Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ and ‘Good’ ratings and supported centrally by a head office in Denton, Manchester.

David Johnson, director at Just Childcare, said: “Allied Irish Bank (GB) have supported the Just Childcare group with bank funding for previous acquisitions and have now provided additional funding that has supported our current acquisition pipeline so far this year.”

Evan Geoghegan, relationship manager at AIB (GB), said: “This is a very exciting period of growth for Just Childcare who are enjoying fast growth following a series of acquisitions in the last year which have strengthened their presence in the North West, Yorkshire and South West.

“We are delighted to continue our support of the group and provide a funding package that has supported their expansion plans to date, as well as supporting their strategy to continue to enhance their existing settings.”

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