Thu, 14 Aug 2025 | BUSINESS SALE
ICP Educare, a nursery group backed by Innervation Capital, has continued its acquisitive growth with a deal for a family-owned Early Years business in the North West. ICP Educare’s buy-and-build strategy, which is supported by OakNorth, has seen it make a number of acquisitions over recent years.
OakNorth backed ICP Nurseries in 2017, followed by Cresswell Nurseries in 2019, with the firms subsequently combining as ICP Education and being sold to Oakley Capital IV in June 2021.
ICP Educare’s buy-and-build strategy was initiated in February 2024, with the company acquiring Phoenix Park Nurseries for £6 million. Later that year, it invested £4 million in the acquisition of Shotley Bridge Day Nursery and Poplars Blossoms, Nottingham.
ICP Educare has £10 million in equity invested and OakNorth backed the firm with a £30 million accordion facility in spring of this year. £13 million of this was deployed in its April 2025 acquisition of Oxfordshire Nurseries and to refinance shareholder loans.
The next tranche of the facility has now been drawn down to fund the acquisition of Newton-le-Willows-based The Woodlands Nursery.
Dominic Harrison, Executive Chair of ICP Educare, said: “The Woodlands Nursery is a strong addition to ICP Educare’s existing portfolio of nurseries. It provides high quality childcare for families in the local community, is managed by a long-standing, experienced team and operates from a large and well invested site.”
Harrison added that, following the acquisition, ICP Educare would continue to deliver on its strategic aims, revealing that the group has “further acquisitions in exclusivity which are expected to complete in the coming months - fully utilising the accordion facility agreed with OakNorth in the spring.”
He continued: “We value the bank’s continued support immensely and look forward to delivering on our proven business plan of adding value to strong nurseries through investment in quality in all that we do.”
Stuart Blair, Director of Debt Finance at OakNorth, said that the firm was delighted to once again work with Innervation Capital, Dominic Harrison and his team, saying that their “proven track record on over 50 deals in this space gave us the confidence that ICP Educare could replicate the success we saw back in 2021 with ICP Education.”
He added: "Since agreeing the £30m of Facilities with Innervation Capital in the spring of this year, it is great to see the targeted acquisition of both Oxfordshire Nurseries and now, The Woodlands Nursery by ICP Educare.”
Read more about M&A in the UK childcare sector
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