Busy Bees acquires three nurseries in Hampshire

With the acquisition, Busy Bees  now has four early years settings based in Hampshire, including Busy Bees Eastleigh, Pilgrims Close.

Across the UK and Ireland, the group cares for more than 40,000 children in 386 nurseries, and more than 75,000 children globally across eight countries.  

Previous owners of Egg Day Nurseries, Anthony and Briony White, opened Sutton Scotney nursery in Winchester over three floors of a converted Methodist church in 2000. This first Egg Day Nurseries setting caters for 69 children from birth to five years, and features four rooms for children, a dedicated baby sleep room, a baby kitchen, and a laundry room. Older children have freeflow access to the outside play area, with dedicated outdoor space for babies.

The group’s second setting, Picket Twenty in Andover, is a purpose-built single-storey building featuring a large outdoor area and four rooms for 72 children.

In 2017, Egg Day Nurseries acquired Magic Tower Montessori Nursery School in Andover which caters for 40 children and offers a tailored Forest School programme.

Anthony and Briony White commented, ‘It has been an absolute pleasure to have provided childcare and early years education to all of our children and to have worked with countless dedicated, professional, and caring colleagues during the past 12 years from when Sutton Scotney was established. 

‘We are confident that our children and our staff team will be in excellent hands with Busy Bees and that the nurseries will go from strength to strength with the depth of expertise and experience they have. We wish everyone all the very best for the future.’

Cheryl Creaser, Europe chief executive at Busy Bees, said, ‘We are delighted to welcome Egg Day Nurseries to our growing family. The owners have created three beautiful nurseries that offer wonderful learning environments for children, and we are committed to preserving their vision going forward. We’re looking forward to working with the team to ensure we can continue providing children with the best start in life.’

Corporate lawyer Helen Wong at Setfords, who advised on the sale, commented, 'The day nursery market in the UK is experiencing an unprecedented level of deal activity with owners choosing to put their business up for sale post covid-19. Deals have included the sale of nursery groups, as well as single-site operators and the demand is strong with bidding wars between buyers on numerous transactions. With economic uncertainty, spiralling utility costs, staff shortages and the nervousness of a recession on the horizon the number of seller mandates seems to be on the increase. We would be pleased to assist any other nursery operators who are looking to exit as we are approached daily by all the big groups who have appetite to buy more day nurseries and continue their rapid expansion plans.'