US childcare group moving into Ireland

Bright Horizons, a quoted US childcare group, will acquire a Dublin creche company in an effort to expand in the Republic.

The Boston-based group is in advanced talks with Circle of Friends, managed by Mr Neil Brown, and a deal is understood to be imminent.

Circle of Friends employs 14 people at creches in Churchtown and Beaumont in Dublin.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions has already entered the Irish market. It provides a two-person referral service at the Intel plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare, and is discussing the possibility of establishing an on-site creche with the technology firm.

Worth about $335 million (€378 million) on the Nasdaq stock exchange, it specialises in the provision of employer-sponsored childcare and education programmes.

It manages 325 "family centres" for more than 250 companies in the US, Britain and Pacific Rim. Its US clients include Bank of America, Boeing, Citibank, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, Time Warner and the UN. Bright Horizons is also understood to have entered talks with IBM Ireland to establish on-site creches at its operations in Dublin.

A Bright Horizons spokeswoman yesterday said she could not confirm that the acquisition was likely.

She added, however, that its purchase last July of a London creche company, Nurseryworks Ltd, was in line with its strategy of entering markets through acquisition of local companies.

Circle of Friends' management team will remain with the company following the deal. Mr Brown, who established the company in 1997, is believed to be principal beneficiary of the sale.

It is thought contact was established between the two companies last summer.

The provision of facilities for workers' children is seen as crucial in the booming jobs market, where companies must compete to hire well-qualified staff.

More and more large companies provide such facilities onsite, meaning parents spend less time travelling with their children to creches.

In October, Bright Horizons reported a 22 per cent rise in third-quarter revenues to $74.5 million from $61.1 million a year earlier in the three months to September 30th. Its profit after tax rose 20 per cent to $2.3 million from $1.9 million in the comparable period a year earlier.