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Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan acquires Busy Bees Nursery Group

 · 1 min read

TORONTO – Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Teachers') today announced the acquisition of Busy Bees Nursery Group (Busy Bees), the largest childcare provider in the United Kingdom.

Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed and Busy Bees' management maintains a significant minority stake in the company. Teachers' acquisition of Busy Bees from Knowledge Universe was made through its private equity investment division, Teachers' Private Capital (TPC).

Busy Bees was founded in 1983 and currently operates 213 nurseries. Its 7,000 staff members provide quality care for 20,000 children.

"Teachers' is pleased to partner with the UK's market leader in the childcare sector. Busy Bees is an outstanding business with good growth potential," said Jo Taylor, TPC Vice-President and head of Teachers' London office.  "Busy Bees' proven management team has a record of quality and integrity. We look forward to supporting their efforts to make its childcare services more widely available through developing new locations and acquiring other facilities."

"Busy Bees and Teachers' share many values, including a commitment to providing excellent service for children and families," said Marg Randles, co-founder and Managing Director of Busy Bees. "While we work together to explore exciting opportunities, our dedicated staff remains focused on delivering exceptional childcare every day at every nursery."

TPC activities include leading deals on a sole or partnered basis, investing in private equity funds in markets and sectors that it cannot efficiently access directly and co-investing with other like-minded private equity funds. TPC manages a global portfolio valued at approximately $12 billion.

About Teachers'

With $129.5 billion in net assets as of December 31, 2012, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada.  An independent organization, it invests the pension fund's assets and administers the pensions of 303,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario. For more information, including our 2012 and previous annual reports, visit www.otpp.com.  Follow us on Twitter at: @OtppInfo.