Advanced Childcare splashes out £10m

ADVANCED Childcare, which manages children’s homes for local councils, has made its first major acquisition since it changed hands for £28m in March.

The Stockport-based company, which is now owned by private equity firm GI Partners, has expanded into the West Midlands with a £10m swoop for Herefordshire-based Clifford House.

The deal will add £5.5m to Advanced Childcare’s turnover, which is set to top £20m this year.  The firm works with more than 40 local authorities and employs around 360 people.

Clifford House is the largest provider of specialist children’s homes in the West Midlands with 13 residential homes (with 46 beds) and one school (with 20 places).

The acquisition of Clifford House expands Advanced Childcare’s home portfolio by 35% to 49 homes with 200 places.

Riz Khan, a former social worker and founder and chief executive of Advanced Childcare said, “Clifford House will enable us to build deeper partnerships with local authorities to meet their increasing need for locally-based children’s homes which can deliver better outcomes for more complex young people at lower cost.

“We are already £25,000 per annum less expensive than government provided residential services1and, today, Advanced Childcare has the highest number of Ofsted Outstanding awards in the UK.”

Khan said that with the backing of GI Partners,  the plan is to invest up to £100m to make Advanced Childcare into the market leader.

“Clifford House is a key hub for further expansion into the South East and other geographies. We are excited to combine with their expertise to meet growing local authority demand for innovative childcare services in their local area,”  he added.

The transaction was funded by capital from GI Partners Fund III L.P.