Oregon’s KinderCare Education Monday announced the acquisition of Troy-based Rainbow Child Care Center. Rainbow has 150 centers in 16 states and is the eighth largest child care provider in the nation.
KinderCare is the largest childcare provider in the U.S. Details of the transaction, which closed on Aug. 24, were not disclosed.
The acquisition was the largest single acquisition for KinderCare since the company merged with Knowledge Learning Corp. in 2005. It expands KinderCare’s national presence to provide child care to more than 185,000 children in 40 states and Washington, D.C. KinderCare operates more than 1,300 fully accredited centers and has delivered 24 quarters of top-line and bottom-line consecutive earnings growth.
Rainbow opened more than 30 years ago.
“Through this acquisition, KinderCare will grow our footprint overnight with a partner who shares our values and commitment to children and families,” says Tom Wyatt, CEO of KinderCare. “Bringing our two companies together, we share the goal of raising the quality of childcare in this country. What’s more important than helping to build a lifelong love of learning and confidence in more children?”
Both KinderCare and Rainbow also offer before- and after-school programs and partner with private sector companies to provide child care for their workers.
“We’re thrilled to join the KinderCare family to build upon our 30-year record of success,” says Pat Fenton, Rainbow co-founder. “Our combined forces will enable us to serve more families with the high-quality child care that is our tradition.”
Effective immediately, Fenton will join the KinderCare leadership team and report to Wyatt.
KinderCare and Rainbow are both majority-owned by private equity firms. Partners Group owns KinderCare and Quad-C Management owns Rainbow.
