Kiddi Caru Euro deal: 'The aim is to have a strong position in every country where we have settings'

Kiddi Caru, one of the largest nursery groups in the country, has been bought by Les Petits Chaperons Rouges (LPCR), a European nursery chain.

The sale is the second-biggest childcare deal of the year in the UK.

Kiddi Caru, part of The Childcare Corporation Limited, runs 20 nurseries in central and southern England, providing more than 2,100 places and employing more than 600 staff. It is within the top 15 largest nursery groups in the UK.

The acquisition brings the total number of UK nurseries owned by LPCR, the brand name of European family-owned provider Grandir, to 36, offering more than 3,200 childcare places. LPCR also operates nurseries in France and Germany.

Earlier in the year, LPCR bought the Magic Nurseries group of 16 settings – its first UK acquisition.

LPRC’s chief executive Jean-Emmanuel Rodocanachi confirmed to Nursery World there are no plans to rebrand the Kiddi Caru or Magic Nurseries or make any changes to the UK nursery groups’ infrastructures. All existing Kiddi Caru staff will continue their employment.

Mr Rodocanachi said, ‘Kiddi Caru is a great addition to LPCR. All the Kiddi Caru nurseries are purpose-built, place an emphasis on quality and have a strong educational programme with a focus on language and arts.

‘Before the Kiddi Caru deal, we looked at 20 opportunities in the UK, but felt something was lacking. The first step is to unify the nurseries with the others in the LPCR group.

‘Going forward, we will start implementing best practice. LPCR has a lot to learn about four- to six-year-olds, but we feel we can bring expertise to the UK for children from birth to three. We have a lot to learn from Kiddi Caru.

‘The aim is to have a strong position in every country where we have settings. Having a strong position brings value, including more career opportunities for staff. We believe we can find innovative career prospects for staff, which we will implement slowly over months/years.’

‘PIONEER’

He added, ‘We have been in childcare for the last 17 years. We pioneered employer-sponsored childcare in France in 2000 when LPCR was established.

‘We have built a great growth story in France. We came to a point where we had enough knowledge to go outside of the borders.

‘The plan was to expand into [European] countries not impacted upon by the economic downturn. We realised countries that are the most populated – France, Germany and the UK – are the strongest economically.

‘We want to operate nurseries in three countries only. Sometimes you have to do less to do well. Our obsession is quality.’

The biggest deal of the year so far is Busy Bees’ acquisition of Treetops Nurseries in March.