LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 1, 2011 – Advanced Childcare Limited, the specialist provider of children’s care and education services based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, has announced the £10 million bolt-on acquisition of Herefordshire, U.K.-based Clifford House.

Clifford House is the largest provider of specialist children’s homes in the West Midlands with 13 residential homes (with 46 beds) and one school (with 20 places). The acquisition of Clifford House expands Advanced Childcare’s home portfolio by 35% to 49 homes with 200 places.

The combined group enables Advanced Childcare to meet increasing local authority demand for high-quality homes across rural, semi-rural and urban environments in specialist 2 to 7-bed configurations. Advanced Childcare’s existing fostering services provides further options for children progressing on from residential homes.

Riz Khan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Childcare said, “Clifford House will enable us to build deeper partnerships with Local Authorities to meet their increasing need for locally-based children’s homes which can deliver better outcomes for more complex young people at lower cost.”

“We are already £25,000 per annum less expensive than government provided residential services¹ and, today, Advanced Childcare has the highest number of Ofsted Outstanding awards in the UK. Clifford House brings additional best-in-class managers, new geographic reach and a long track record of excellent outcomes for children in care. The acquisition strengthens Advanced Childcare’s offerings and represents a further step in our plans to invest up to £100 million to transform Advanced Childcare into the market leader.”

“Clifford House is a key hub for further expansion into the South East and other geographies. We are excited to combine with their expertise to meet growing local authority demand for innovative childcare services in their local area,” stated Mr. Khan.

The transaction was funded by capital from GI Partners, based in London.

 

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Evans Ward, Business Development Director, Advanced Childcare
(w) +44 (0) 161 430 0200    (m) +44 (0)7887 867 872    evans.ward@advancedchildcare.co.uk

Advanced Childcare is the third largest provider of residential children’s homes in UK. The company, based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, provides care services for children taken into care by the Government across a range of settings including residential units, schools and fostering. The company has the highest number of Outstanding Ofsted awards in the sector and is the #1 provider of block contract beds to Local Authorities in the UK, all awarded through competitive tenders. The company has partnerships with over 40 Local Authorities and employs circa 360 employees. In March 2011, the company was acquired by GI Partners.

For more information, please visit www.advancedchildcare.co.uk and www.advancedfostercare.co.uk

Established in 2001 and with 54 investment professionals, GI Partners is a leading private investment firm that focuses on control-oriented investments in asset-intensive, middle market businesses and real estate platforms located in the UK, Western Europe and North America. With offices in London, Munich, Menlo Park, Chicago and Greenwich (Connecticut), key sectors of focus include facilities-based specialist healthcare, financial services, leisure, retail, logistics and IT infrastructure. Since inception, the firm has secured $3.9 billion of equity capital commitments from recognized institutional real estate and private equity investors in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In addition, GI manages the $3.4 billion CalEast Global Logistics business through a separate account with CalPERS. The team is currently investing from GI Partners Fund III L.P., which is over 70% committed.

For more information, please visit www.gipartners.com

Eric Lemer, Director of Investor Relations, GI Partners    
+44 (0) 20 7034 1154    eric.lemer@gipartners.co.uk