Nido raised $99.2 million through the issue of 99.2 million shares, giving the group a market capitalisation of $219 million. Nido is now the second largest listed operator in the industry. A substantial portion of funds raised was used to acquire an additional twenty four childcare centres in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Founded by Mathew Edwards, Nido Education operates long-day early childhood education and care services in Australia. Mr Edwards is a long standing client of MinterEllison.
The firm first advised Mr Edwards (MD) and Mr Kerr (Chairman) on the IPO of Think Childcare in 2014 and subsequently advised on the first non-property related staple structure in the public markets with the launch of Think Childcare Development Limited. The firm then advised Think Childcare on the sale of the business and the separation and sale of the trading business to Busy Bee in October 2021 and the sale of the development business to Mr Edwards which became the foundation of Nido Education.
Nido has plans to grow the network of early childhood centres through an incubator model with up to 32 more centres to be added to the portfolio in 2024.
MinterEllison M&A partners Bart Oude Vrielink and Sudharshan Senathirajah led the multi-disciplinary team, which worked on all aspects of the IPO and acquisition of new centres.
Sudharshan Senathirajah commented: "We are pleased to have advised Mr Edwards and Nido on this significant ASX listing and their strategic expansions in a range of states in Australia. This latest work demonstrates the firm's leading ECM and M&A expertise and knowledge of the education industry, including the early childhood education sector."
Mr Oude-Vrielink added "We look forward to continuing to work with Mr Edwards and Mr Kerr as they execute on the Nido business strategy. We pride ourselves on establishing long term relationships, ensuring that our advice is thorough and appropriate for each stage of a company's development and knowing the people we are advising."
