Case study – acquisition of Elmore Kindergarten by Nurtured Childcare
Back in the spring, Alpha Public Relations worked with Nurtured Childcare, a fast-growing, acquisitive day nursery group headquartered in Stockport, to publicise its acquisition of Elmore Kindergarten, which operates three day nurseries in Sheffield.
Nurtured Childcare had a number of reasons for wanting to publicise the deal, including:
- Communicating their intentions to the community, and ensuring parents, staff and other stakeholders understood this was a positive move that would lead to increased investment in the acquired nurseries.
- Raising their profile as an active acquirer in the sector, encouraging other nursery owners who might be considering an exit to get in touch.
- Cementing their relationship with the lender who backed the deal and the broker who arranged the finance facility, and raising their profile in the wider corporate finance community.
Deal stories usually attract a fair amount of interest but the stars aligned on this one and, given the scale of the deal, we achieved significant coverage in the local, regional and business press, the childcare trade media and the corporate finance/M&A press.
A number of factors contributed to this result.
Entrepreneurial story
The acquirer is a fast-growing business, with the stats to back up its claims, and an energetic founder. These are factors that interest the media.
When you have a strength like this you should always play to it – and we did, ensuring the media understood this deal was part of a bigger, ongoing story.
Collaboration
Having more than one business involved in a story has a multiplier effect on its newsworthiness. We worked closely with the lender that backed the deal, OakNorth Bank, and the broker KeySME Business Finance to draft the press release announcing the deal. Distribution of the press release was then divided between Alpha Public Relations and OakNorth, each targeting their own key contacts.
The involvement of OakNorth elevated the story to another level, particularly for the business press. As a Manchester-headquartered challenger bank serving entrepreneurial businesses, its activities are of significant interest, particularly when backing another North West business.
Tailoring to the audience
To achieve maximum coverage it is important not to make journalists work too hard, either to grasp the relevance of your story or to rewrite it. With this in mind, we drafted different versions of the press release tailored to the needs of the media who would be receiving it.
The key information was the same, but the level of detail was different for local newspapers than for the business and trade press.
Importantly, the version sent to the North West and national business and nursery trade press led with the angle that Nurtured Childcare, backed by OakNorth, had acquired Elmore Kindergarten. The versions sent to the Yorkshire and Sheffield press, however, led with the angle that Elmore Kindergarten, a Sheffield business, had been sold by its founder. Details like this matter.
A summary of the coverage achieved can be found below. Some sites are paywalled, but I have included them for completeness.
Local/regional press
Business press
TheBusinessDesk.com North West
Childcare trade press
