The nursery group has completed a refinancing deal with Santander Corporate Banking to release £7.8m to enable the chain to increase the capacity of some of its nurseries in areas of high demand and to offer more places for two-year-olds under the free entitlement.
Bertram intends to increase its number of childcare places by 300, which will see the nursery group offer a total of 2,873 places across its 34 settings. The expansion will also create 100 more jobs, bringing the total number of people employed by the group to more than 800.
The focus of the expansion will be on Bertram’s 15 Manchester based settings. Some nurseries in central Scotland will also see their capacity increased.
The nursery group also plans to open another setting in Manchester by the end of the year.
Bertram Nursery group runs 34 settings across north-west England and Scotland under the brands Holyrood, Happitots and Bright Beginnings.
Graeme Scott, managing director of Bertram Nursery Group (right), said, ‘We are delighted to have secured this new finance deal with Santander. This new funding will enable us to develop our business in areas where capacity is stretched so that we are able to provide much needed high quality childcare places in the areas that need it most.’