{"id":480567,"date":"2026-05-12T08:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480567\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T08:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:35:14","slug":"tigers-childcare-sells-34-creche-business-to-uk-group-in-deal-that-could-be-worth-e75m-plus-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480567\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers Childcare sells 34-creche business to UK group in deal that could be worth \u20ac75m-plus \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tigers<\/a> Childcare<\/a>, the creche group built up by Karen Clince over the past 23 years, is being acquired by UK<\/a> group Kids Planet Day Nurseries in its first move beyond its home market.<\/p>\n

Tigers operates 34 creches across the State, mostly in Dublin<\/a> and the surrounding commuter counties, catering to 3,200 children and employing 640 people. The deal is likely to be worth \u20ac75 million.<\/p>\n

Clince started her business 23 years ago at the age of 21, when she was a resource teacher in Glasnevin, Co Dublin. The business began in a spare room in the school where she worked before expanding.<\/p>\n

She and her executive team will remain in place to run the Irish business following the sale with a view to continuing to grow the business in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the end game,\u201d Clince said. \u201cWe needed to grow more quickly and substantially in Ireland and we needed to find a funder to help deliver that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the business decided to go to market in pursuit of that last summer. <\/p>\n

\"\"PrepayPower are hiking their prices – will other energy suppliers soon follow suit?<\/p>\n

She had known Kids Planet founder Clare Roberts for around five years. \u201cShe is someone whom I know and am most aligned with and trust in our view of the business. We share a very similar background,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kids Planet is the second-largest childcare provider in the UK. It was founded by Roberts in 2008 when, as a young mum, she encountered the challenge of trying to source flexible childcare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The acquisition of Tigers brings the total number of centres it operates to over 300.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important step for Tigers Childcare and one that positions us strongly for the future,\u201d said Clince. \u201cIt gives us the scale, support and shared expertise to continue growing in a way that protects quality and expands access for more families across Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is expected that the Tigers business will rebrand as Kids Planet at some point.<\/p>\n

Clince said there remains plenty of room to grow the business in Ireland. She notes that if all children eligible for the Affordable Childcare scheme took up their places, there would be capacity for only 25 per cent because of the childcare places currently available in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always going to have to be the case that we had to consider a sale to grow the business. It\u2019s a scary place to be when you have always been in charge but I trust the finance and the brand, which is why it works for both sides,\u201d said Clince. <\/p>\n

Roberts said: \u201cWe are incredibly proud of this enormous milestone for the Kids Planet group. This is the perfect opportunity for our continued expansion and we are really excited to work alongside the Tigers team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The acquisition will see investment fund BGF sell the stake it acquired in the Irish business back in 2021. However, BGF is also an investor in Kids Planet, where private equity group Fremman is the largest shareholder.<\/p>\n

Clince, who held a 36.5 per cent stake in the business according to the group\u2019s most recently-filed accounts, will continue to hold a reduced stake in the business.<\/p>\n

No financials were disclosed. However, the \u20ac10.5 million investment by BGF for a 40 per cent stake in Tigers back in 2021 valued the business at \u20ac26.5 million.<\/p>\n

Since then, revenues have grown from around \u20ac6.7 million to \u20ac18.8 million at the end of 2024. The business acquired a further 11 creches last year.<\/p>\n

On the basis of the revenue multiples at the time of the BGF deal, the acquisition by Kids Planet is likely to a figure north of \u20ac75 million.<\/p>\n

Neither Clince nor BGF would make any comment on the figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tigers Childcare, the creche group built up by Karen Clince over the past 23 years, is being acquired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,17889,18,19,17,210254,2973,210253],"class_list":{"0":"post-480567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-childcare","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-karen-clince","14":"tag-parenting","15":"tag-tigers-childcare"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116560693044125873","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}