This Month
Happy days for Alceon PE’s backers as Nido lists
Ex-Think Childcare boss Mat Edwards’ latest IPO, Nido, has sent cheers through Sydney firm Alceon Private Equity’s investors.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Quadrant pauses $1b Affinity auction, eyes ACCC childcare report
Quadrant and its sell-side advisers, Barrenjoey and Jefferies, have hit pause to allow Affinity’s suitors time to digest ACCC’s report on its inquiry into childcare.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
‘No silver bullet’: Is the childcare system broken?
Childcare in Australia is among the most expensive in the OECD and government subsidies have increased. But operators don’t appear to be rolling in profits.
- Euan Black and Liam Walsh
ACCC eyes high costs of big-chain childcare
Citing the Commonwealth budget impact, the regulator is looking at why some subsidised players – like those with high debt – have big costs.
- Liam Walsh and Euan Black
Childcare price controls are ‘impossible’, warns operator
The ACCC has urged the government to consider direct price controls to keep a lid on rising childcare fees, but industry participants are wary.
- Euan Black and Liam Walsh
- Analysis
- Education
Higher subsidies don’t solve childcare costs - and may make them worse
The Albanese government’s response to the competition watchdog’s latest report on the childcare sector was disappointingly shallow.
- Ronald Mizen
Government threatens to ‘name and shame’ childcare centres gouging
Margins in the sector are highly varied, with head office expenses and the cost of chains trying to grow chewing up large operators’ profits.
- Nick Bonyhady and Julie Hare
Market forces in childcare have failed families: ACCC
Childcare in Australia is less affordable than almost all other comparable countries and despite government contributions being almost double the OECD average.
- Julie Hare
September
Childcare sector unions win first multi-employer bargaining order
Unions say they will seek to force the Albanese government to the bargaining table to fund a real wage increase for 500 centres.
- David Marin-Guzman
- Exclusive
- Early childhood
The best start for kids free of fees, Centrelink and activity tests
New analysis reveals poor families readily accessed childcare when it was free during the pandemic – the very children who will get the greatest benefit.
- Julie Hare
Book covered for Nido’s $99m IPO
Fund managers were expecting book-covered messaged shortly after midday on Tuesday.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
The Carlyle Group considers tilt at Affinity Education; bankers up
Street Talk understands Hutchinson is working with RBC Capital Markets to prep an indicative offer for the early childhood education business.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
August
School’s out for Affinity Education auction; Quadrant sends flyer
The group of tyre-kickers is understood to be thick with private capital, including parties which made the inquiries that triggered the processes.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Nido kicks off $99m IPO book-build with AustralianSuper as cornerstone
The offer price of $1 a share implies an enterprise valuation of eight times to pro forma adjusted EBITDA forecast for the 2024 calendar year.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Childcare centres turning away parents because of staff shortages
Childcare centres across the country are turning away parents because they don’t have enough staff to care for their children.
- Euan Black
Childcare giant G8 says skills shortage meant turning away parents
Earnings were up in the company’s 430 centres but it said it had been forced to limit enrolments at about 50 centres.
- Liam Walsh and Jenny Wiggins
- Exclusive
- Education
Childcare operator run by ex-Lib candidate forced to close services
After-school operator Big Childcare was sanctioned “due to concerns about risks to children”, affecting 1400 NSW students.
- Aaron Patrick
Childcare centres to avoid ‘material’ write-downs: Arena boss
The country’s second-biggest owner of early learning facilities booked a $17 million valuation gain over fiscal 2023, bucking a trend across the REITs.
- Larry Schlesinger
IPO hopeful Nido herds cornerstones; pricing talks under way
Mathew Edwards’ and Alceon Private Equity’s Nido is looking for $100 million at nine times EBITDA or 13 to 14 times the price-to-earnings ratio.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
A family earning $460k with two kids in care can now claim $10,000 in subsidies
Families earning over $350,000 can now claim childcare subsidies. But they need to remember to sign up, warns Entitlemate’s Brendan Ryan.
- Julie Hare
