Nursery group launches crowdfunding bid

The Bertram bond will be offered initially to parents and grandparents of children at the group’s 37 nurseries, who will be able to invest £500 or more.

The nursery group is using the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. The money must be invested over a four-year minimum term and will pay out a fixed rate of return at 8 per cent, with a 5 per cent discount off all childcare fees at any Bertram nursery for the eldest child or grandchild of any bondholder. For example, this equates to a discount of £572 a year for a two-year-old child at the group’s Altrincham nursery on a full-time place. Investing £10,000 or more would lead to a discount of 10 per cent.

Launching the Bertram bond, the company’s CEO Graeme Scott said that he hoped that the nursery’s track record would inspire investors – and particularly parents and grandparents of the nursery children – to get involved in a successful and growing operation.

‘A lot of the bigger private equity-backed nursery groups are run to a clearly defined formula and the nurseries are a homogenised brand,’ he said. ‘Bertram takes a different approach believing that the nurseries are there to serve local communities and each one needs investment in care, teaching, staff training and IT tailored to suit the needs of its own community. I believe this is the secret to our ongoing growth.’

He added, ‘We have excellent and committed local management teams committed to constantly improving the services at our nurseries. Owners have trusted Bertram knowing that when they sell to us we will preserve all the good things about the nursery they have built up and keep the staff – all we will do is provide further enhancement to create an even better environment which combines education and social development for the children in our care.’

Mr Scott founded Bertram in 2002, converting a former nursing home in Edinburgh into a 100-place nursery and the group now has sites across Scotland and north-west England.