Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, has sold three established Derbyshire day nursery settings trading as Kingfisher Day Nurseries.
Kingfisher Day Nurseries comprises Kingfisher Day Nursery Donisthorpe in Swadlincote, Kingfisher Day Nursery Chapel Street in Spondon, and Kingfisher Day Nursery Kilburn in Belper. Together, they cater for up to 186 children aged between one and four years.
Kingfisher Day Nurseries was previously owned by Helen Allanson, who established her first setting in Spondon in 2004 and grew the group from there. She decided to sell to retire from the sector.
Following a sales process with Jassi Sunner at Christie & Co, the three settings have been purchased by Kids Planet Day Nurseries, bringing the group to 188 settings across the UK.
Helen Allanson, former owner of Kingfisher Day Nurseries, says: “I acquired my first settings (Spondon nursery and pre school site) in 2004 and increased numbers and facilities here from 20 children to 68. Other settings were purchased in 2011 and 2015 and each nursery was updated and modernised where needed.
“It has been a busy and productive 20 years but it was time for a break to follow other opportunities and to spend more time with children and grandchildren. I feel Kids Planet will care for and develop the excellent staff team at each nursery and will have the resources to further improve facilities for the children.”
Clare Roberts, CEO at Kids Planet Day Nurseries, says: “We are thrilled to have added Kingfisher Day Nurseries to the Kids Planet family. They are truly lovely nurseries that very much mirror the ethos of Kids Planet in both quality practice and provision.
“I am really looking forward to working closely with the settings over the next few months as we support and develop the nurseries further.”
Jassi Sunner, Associate Director – Childcare & Education at Christie & Co, says: “I have had the pleasure of working with Helen since 2019 when we managed to sell the first of the fantastic five settings she had at the time. We continued our good working relationship with another single-setting sale in 2021.
“I knew that Helen may have plans to exit so presented the opportunity of a well-known buyer for her remaining five settings and we were quickly able to agree a closed and confidential sale.
“The span of these settings across various boroughs of Derbyshire was a key attraction to the buyer and Helen’s strong relationship and dedicated teams have always been a key factor to the range of buyers we have agreed sales to.
“I am sincerely pleased to help Helen exit the sector and I hope she can benefit from the additional time she now has to spend with her lovely family.”
Kingfisher Day Nurseries was sold for an undisclosed price.
