Frazer Hall has advised on the sale of The Ark Nursery – a Yorkshire-based children’s nursery/out of school and holiday club with more than 500 attendees. The Ark has been sold to a management buy-in team.
The Ark Children’s Day Nursery – successfully set for sale and steered to completion
The Ark is a children’s day nursery and after school club based in an idyllic rural setting in Cragg Vale, Calderdale, West Yorkshire. In 2000 The Ark set sail with Heidi Bingham and Jo Brock at the helm, primarily driven by their desire to provide childcare to the standard they wished for their own offspring.
The highly successful nursery received great acclaim in the area and deemed an absolute triumph amongst parents and carers who loved the setting and services. However, in 2015 the time came for the owners (now with their children in high school and beyond) to change direction and so came the difficult personal decision to sell The Ark.
Frazer Hall was chosen to help and advise Heidi and Jo with the sale of the business and assist in the preparation of the nursery for the sale. Run as a lifestyle business for the benefit of the owners and local children the focus needed to change to that of a commercial operation.
After only 9 months the sale was completed in May 2015. The new owners Priyanka and Gourav Buch (husband and wife) along with Jo Brock, who has stayed on as Operations Director, have continued to maintain the nursery’s reputation and received an ‘Outstanding’ status from Ofsted in its most recent inspection.
Heidi Bingham has praised Frazer Hall:
“Stephen Frazer was very easy to talk to and honest with his feedback. I always felt we were at the top of the agenda and the personal importance of the process was fully understood. Frazer Hall appreciated the need to support us both practically and emotionally throughout the entire process – we’d never sold a business before. The team were responsive, both in and out of standard business hours, and we always knew they were on our side.”
Stephen Frazer, advisor at Frazer Hall, commented “We were able to market the nursery business in a confidential manner, attracting numerous active buyers which resulted in a swift sale and successful completion within just 9 months of the initial instruction.”
He added “We wish Heidi and Jo every success in the future and we are positive that the Buch family will continue to maintain and improve the excellent reputation The Ark has in the region.”