This Month
Quadrant locks in refi for Junior Adventure Group
Street Talk understands existing lender Barings came in for a larger slice of the debt, which was due to expire in June 2024.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
November
- Opinion
- Opinion
Childcare doesn’t cost anywhere as much as you’re being told
Recent official inquiries into prices underestimate the effect of big government subsidies, which might be better spent on the more needy.
- Ben Phillips
Women ‘priced out of the workforce’ by childcare fees
Australian women are being priced out of work by excessive childcare fees and that is bad for them, skills shortages and the economy.
- Julie Hare
Anne Aly reinvented herself many times. And then came politics
If there is such a thing as a traditional path into parliament, Australia’s first Muslim federal female politician did not take it.
- Julie Hare
Labor told to fund three days childcare for all families
The Productivity Commission has recommended a $2.5 billion increase in spending on care for children under five, as part of the promised universal system.
- Tom McIlroy
Goodstart slides deeper into red as ACCC flags more sector regulation
Childcare operators are facing a squeeze from higher bills including rent, plus a workforce shortage. There are some positive factors too.
- Liam Walsh
October
Happy days for Alceon PE’s backers as Nido lists
Ex-Think Childcare boss Mat Edwards’ latest IPO, Nido, has sent cheers through Sydney firm Alceon Private Equity’s investors.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Quadrant pauses $1b Affinity auction, eyes ACCC childcare report
Quadrant and its sell-side advisers, Barrenjoey and Jefferies, have hit pause to allow Affinity’s suitors time to digest ACCC’s report on its inquiry into childcare.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
‘No silver bullet’: Is the childcare system broken?
Childcare in Australia is among the most expensive in the OECD and government subsidies have increased. But operators don’t appear to be rolling in profits.
- Euan Black and Liam Walsh
ACCC eyes high costs of big-chain childcare
Citing the Commonwealth budget impact, the regulator is looking at why some subsidised players – like those with high debt – have big costs.
- Liam Walsh and Euan Black
Childcare price controls are ‘impossible’, warns operator
The ACCC has urged the government to consider direct price controls to keep a lid on rising childcare fees, but industry participants are wary.
- Euan Black and Liam Walsh
- Analysis
- Education
Higher subsidies don’t solve childcare costs - and may make them worse
The Albanese government’s response to the competition watchdog’s latest report on the childcare sector was disappointingly shallow.
- Ronald Mizen
Government threatens to ‘name and shame’ childcare centres gouging
Margins in the sector are highly varied, with head office expenses and the cost of chains trying to grow chewing up large operators’ profits.
- Nick Bonyhady and Julie Hare
Market forces in childcare have failed families: ACCC
Childcare in Australia is less affordable than almost all other comparable countries and despite government contributions being almost double the OECD average.
- Julie Hare
September
Childcare sector unions win first multi-employer bargaining order
Unions say they will seek to force the Albanese government to the bargaining table to fund a real wage increase for 500 centres.
- David Marin-Guzman
- Exclusive
- Early childhood
The best start for kids free of fees, Centrelink and activity tests
New analysis reveals poor families readily accessed childcare when it was free during the pandemic – the very children who will get the greatest benefit.
- Julie Hare
Book covered for Nido’s $99m IPO
Fund managers were expecting book-covered messaged shortly after midday on Tuesday.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
The Carlyle Group considers tilt at Affinity Education; bankers up
Street Talk understands Hutchinson is working with RBC Capital Markets to prep an indicative offer for the early childhood education business.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
August
School’s out for Affinity Education auction; Quadrant sends flyer
The group of tyre-kickers is understood to be thick with private capital, including parties which made the inquiries that triggered the processes.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Nido kicks off $99m IPO book-build with AustralianSuper as cornerstone
The offer price of $1 a share implies an enterprise valuation of eight times to pro forma adjusted EBITDA forecast for the 2024 calendar year.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
