DLA Piper advises Touhula Päiväkodit and its shareholders on the sale of the company to AcadeMedia

DLA Piper has advised Touhula Päiväkodit ("Touhula") and its shareholders on the sale of the company to AcadeMedia, a leading education company in Northern Europe.

Touhula is one of the largest private daycare operators in Finland with approximately 2,000 employees. The acquisition includes 113 pre-schools in 40 municipalities with revenues of approximately EUR 100 million in 2023. The transaction, which is expected to close on 1 March 2024, is expected to benefit both companies and the children and families served by Touhula's pre-schools.

AcadeMedia is the largest education operator in the Nordic countries, with operations in Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK, and now also in Finland, at various stages of the educational pathway from early childhood to adult education. AcadeMedia is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Early childhood education and care is part of the Finnish education system and an important stage in a child's growth and learning. Finnish early childhood education is based on an integrated approach to care education, and teaching, with particular emphasis on pedagogy. The number of children attending pre-school in Finland is increasing, and more and more municipalities and families are opting for independent alternatives.

In 2022, DLA Piper advised Touhula and its management in a management buy-out that introduced a new operating and ownership model to the private early childhood education sector, as a result of which the board, management and approximately 100 employees became shareholders in the company. In recent years, Touhula has also undergone a financial turnaround and is now one of the leading pre-school operators in Finland.

The DLA Piper team included Ilkka Liljeroos, Ida-Sofia Antinluoma, Mikko Luukkonen, Ari Savela, Satu-Anneli Kauranen and Joonas Jämsä.