Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, has announced the sale of Yorkshire-based, Twinkles Nursery Group.

Founded in 2003, Twinkles Nursery Group is renowned for its multi-award-winning, exceptional childcare.

The group comprises six high-quality purpose-built and purpose-designed facilities located in North and West Yorkshire; around Leeds city centre, and in the neighbouring towns of Knaresborough, Wetherby, and Boston Spa. All of the settings are Ofsted rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. The group provides a total effective operating capacity for 482 children aged 6 weeks to 5 years, and 56 out of school places.

Following Christie & Co’s long-standing relationship with the founder, Jill Graham, Twinkles Nursery Group was brought to market via a confidential marketing process. Due to the exceptional nature of the business, competitive bidding between shortlisted buyers was fierce.

This celebrated portfolio has been sold to Kids Planet, an organisation with an aligned vision, values, and culture. Having recently acquiring The Kinderhaven Group, Rainbow Nursery School in Yorkshire and now Twinkles Nursery Group, Kids Planet has a very strong foothold and platform from which to further grow and deliver the highest quality early years childcare and education to even more families across Yorkshire.

Managing director of Twinkles Nursery Group, Jill Smith, commented:

“I have been operating nurseries for almost 21 years and have organically developed Twinkles gradually over that time, starting the first nursery in 2001 when my daughter was a baby. It has been an honour to serve all our wonderful families and to work alongside such a dedicated and super talented team over the years, and I feel now is a good time to step back and take some time to decide what comes next. I know that Twinkles will continue to strive in the very capable hands of Claire and Kids Planet, and I look forward to seeing further growth. I will miss my team and wish them all the very best of luck for the future and thank them for the amazing memories we have built together.”

Chief exec of Kids Planet, Clare Roberts, added “With Leeds being a city close to my heart, we are thrilled to have acquired a group such as Twinkles, which provides exceptionally high-quality childcare, mirroring that of Kids Planet. We are excited to be growing our position in Yorkshire, given our recent acquisitions of Kinder Haven Group and Rainbows Day Nursery, allowing us to offer families the best childcare available in their hometowns. With Twinkles being a family run business just like ours, we believe they will transition into Kids Planet perfectly, upholding the same values and ideals we pride ourselves on. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the process and to welcome an exceptionally professional and dedicated Twinkles team to the Kids Planet Family.”

The sale was handled by Courteney Donaldson and Nick Brown at Christie & Co.

Courteney Donaldson, managing director added: “This is an exceptional business, and we were delighted to be invited by Jill to lead a formal, albeit highly confidential sale. Once in receipt of multiple offers, we were able to help Jill her choose the right people to further build on her renowned group. Jill has continually looked to expand and grow her business and, even during the short sales process, just 56 working days from Heads of Agreement being signed, Jill secured a new organic development opportunity. It has been a pleasure working with Jill to make sure that, after having decided to sell and move on from the sector, her business is in the best hands possible.”

Twinkles Nursery Group was sold for an undisclosed price.