National Fostering Agency Partnerships, a company backed by Sovereign Capital, has acquired Jay Fostering, the group’s fifth acquisition.
Sovereign Capital led the institutional buy-out of NFA in December 2006.
Since then, Sovereign has backed the bolt-on acquisitions of five companies including The Foster Care Agency, Alliance Fostering, Child First Fostering Agency and Alpha Plus Fostering.
Jay is a Leicestershire-based independent fostering agency. Established in 2003 by Joy Berry, a social work director, and her son Richard Berry, Jay has grown in the past three years expanding geographically into the West Midlands and opening a satellite office in Castle Donnington, Derbyshire.
Sovereign has been tracking Jay for the past year as its strong local presence complements NFAP’s current locations, providing it with increased coverage, especially in the East Midlands region.
The acquisition will bring a further two offices to NFA’s network of 13 regional offices and Jay will be managed on a day-to-day basis by the incumbent registered manager, Gillian Sanderson.
Debt for the transaction has been provided by Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets Acquisition Finance.
Dominic Dalli, partner at Sovereign, says: “Jay is one of the largest independent fostering agencies in the area and its scale, customer base and reputation will enable NFAP to extend its coverage significantly in the Midlands. Jay will become the sixth operating brand under the NFA umbrella, cementing NFA’s reputation as an excellent home for high-quality fostering agencies. We look forward to supporting Jay’s well-established local reputation as part of NFA’s national footprint.”
Iain Anderson, chief executive of NFA and NFAP, says: “NFAP is pleased to add to its network of dedicated, passionate and well-trained foster carers. Jay Fostering will benefit from NFAP’s national scale and operational back office, reducing the administration burden from key staff so allowing them to concentrate on the core tasks of placement outcomes and high-quality care for which Jay is so well known.”
