Welcome Nurseries, one of the fastest growing nursery groups in the UK, is launching in the United Arab Emirates and already has its first three acquisitions at the due diligence stage.

The Dubai-based company, Welcome Nurseries International Investments LLC, plans to replicate it’s successful UK formula and acquire individual settings and has ambitious goals to be the largest group in the UAE.

Linda Cuddy, director and partner, said, “We see this as an opportunity to bring our acquisition experience and operational expertise to a new territory.”

“The UAE has a fragmented early years sector and British providers are an attractive proposition. We have partnered with an existing British provider who has the local knowledge and a management team on the ground.”

In the UK, Welcome Nurseries has 45 settings which are either fully owned or in the final stages of the transfer ofownership, bringing the group to nearly 5000 places.