PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
KinderCare
Includes KinderCare Learning Companies, KLC
childcare · Portland, OR
- PE Firm
- Partners Group →
- Year Acquired
- 2015
200,000 kids. Dozens of safety violations. One IPO payday for Partners Group.
The PE Playbook
- Partners Group acquired KinderCare in 2015; IPO'd in October 2024 but PE retains 71% ownership
- Serves 200,000+ children across 2,400 centers with 43,000+ employees
- Directors reportedly pressured to prioritize enrollment rates above all other considerations
- Part of a broader PE trend: four of the top five for-profit childcare chains are PE-backed
Since the Acquisition
- Children have escaped KinderCare facilities onto busy roads on multiple occasions — in Milford, CT and Greenville, NC, staff didn't even know the kids were missing until strangers intervened
- An 11-month-old tested positive for cocaine at an Oak Creek, WI location in 2024 after a worker brought drugs into the infant room — that facility had already been cited for staff being aggressive with infants
- Parents report tuition running $1,300-$2,600/month while teachers describe poverty-level pay and constant turnover — one Washington state location shut down entirely because it couldn't find enough staff
- A securities fraud class action alleges KinderCare concealed widespread safety failures and understaffing from investors ahead of the IPO — stock has cratered from $24 to under $10
Sources
- Partners Group-backed KinderCare raises $576M in IPO — Bloomberg(2024-10-09)
- Partners Group portfolio company KinderCare prices IPO(2024-10-08)
- PE investments in large for-profit child care organizations — Congress.gov(2024-10-01)
- Child tests positive for cocaine, day care worker arrested in Oak Creek — Spectrum News 1(2024-05-28)
- Mother whose son ingested cocaine at a KinderCare speaks after former employee pleads guilty — TMJ4(2024-10-01)