OakNorth Bank completes £750k deal with Bright Minds Daycare

By Bridging Loan Directory 10th December 2019

OakNorth Bank – the UK bank powered by OakNorth – has completed a debt finance deal of £750k to Bright Minds Daycare, a premium independent nursery group founded in Birmingham. The finance will be used to fund refurbishment and working capital requirements, as well as purchase new equipment.

The business was co-founded by Birmingham based entrepreneurs Taj Heer and Talon Golding in 2017, and is backed by Guinness Asset Management, a UK based asset manager, investing in a range of asset classes and sectors globally. The business’ Operations Director, Kelly Hill, has over 20 years’ experience in childcare, most recently as an area director for the UK’s largest childcare group Busy Bees, where she was running 11 nurseries across the Midlands.

Commenting on the transaction, Taj Heer and Talon Golding, Co-founders of Bright Minds Daycare, said:

“We spoke to a few different banks about our funding requirements but chose OakNorth because this is clearly a sector they know well and enjoy working with. With OakNorth’s support, we’ll be able to continue expanding whilst ensuring that our two new sites meet the high-quality standards set by our first two nurseries.”

Mohith Sondhi, Senior Debt Finance Director at OakNorth Bank, commented:

“We see a huge amount of opportunity in the Midlands. It is home to thousands of brilliant businesses like Bright Minds Daycare, so with our newly opened Birmingham office and our two new team members there, we are excited to help even more businesses in the region achieve their growth ambitions.

“Current occupancy rates for nurseries in Birmingham average 75 percent, but it is the youngest city of any major city in Europe with under 25s accounting for nearly 40 percent of the population, so we expect to see demand grow significantly in the future. Bright Minds Daycare is in a prime position to take advantage of this – the management team know this sector inside out and have built a great business model with strong equity backing to take the business forward.”