Pilke Päiväkodit and Laeringsverkstedet to form one of the largest private daycare groups

6 july 2020

Nordhaven advised Pilke Päiväkodit and its owners on the sale of the company to Norway-rooted family company Læringsverkstedet. Following the transaction Læringsverkstedet will be the largest daycare group in the Nordics and one of the largest globally with combined sales of approx. €450 m in 2019 and operations in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Dubai and Latvia. Following the acquisition of Pilke Päiväkodit Læringsverkstedet plans to continue to grow in its existing countries as well as to increase its overall presence outside the Nordic region significantly.

Pilke Päiväkodit is a market leading private daycare company in Finland and it is well-known for high quality in its early education as well as substantial benefits created for municipalities. In addition to providing daycare services to over 10.000 children in over 150 daycare centres across Finland, Pilke Päiväkodit provides also after-school club and child home care services to its customer families. Throughout years Pilke Päiväkodit has been a regular study excursion destination for numerous Asian and European daycare operators who are interested in learning more about the benefits of the Nordic early education curriculum and benchmarking their operations with Pilke.

“I am truly impressed by the work done by Nordhaven. The combination of compelling fact-based story-building and tactical skills, deep M&A and debt advisory expertise, high service level and a lot of laughs are Nordhaven’s ingredients for a highly successful international sales process. With the help of Nordhaven we were able to find the best home for Pilke and we are very proud to join an international market leader in our strongly developing industry segment” says Kai Seppälä, founder of Pilke Päiväkodit.

Pilke Päiväkodit has been majority owned by Finnish private equity investor Korona Invest since 2012. During Korona Invest’s ownership period the company has grown its sales from approx. €1.5 million to close to €100 million, it has opened over 50 new day care units nationwide and hired close to 2.000 daycare professionals. 

“Nordhaven was able to exceed the targets set for the Pilke exit. The Nordhaven team provided vivid insights, highest quality investment story and sales materials, highly relevant international buyer universe and high calibre international sales process. The sellers are satisfied with the outcome” says Vesa Lehtomäki, Chairman of the Board at Korona Invest.

The transaction is expected to be completed during Q3/2020.

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