Cambian Group Acquire By the Bridge Group for £36 million

Acquirer

The leading provider of specialist behaviour health services now has additional capabilities to deliver a complete and differentiated service offering for looked after children.

26 March 2015, London: The Cambian Group, has acquired By the Bridge, an independent fostering provider who cares for 516 children with high severity needs in 346 families*, in the South of England, the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West.

By the Bridge provides therapeutic fostering for children and will enable Cambian to align its current fostering services with its specialist residential care offerings. Cambian will take ownership of over 20 fostering framework contracts across more than 120 Local Authorities that will support Cambian providing a continuum of care alongside their other specialist children’s services.

Cambian is pleased that the leadership team from By the Bridge will join Cambian. Nicola Tunbridge now becomes the Managing Director of the Cambian Fostering division and commented: “With Cambian’s commitment to fostering and the part it plays in providing a continuum of care, we can now take this distinct and unique approach to fostering that we have developed in By the Bridge over the past thirteen years, and grow it across the UK, enabling more children to benefit from our outcomes-focused model of therapeutic foster care.”

Anne Marie Carrie, CEO, Cambian Children Services, said: “I am delighted with this acquisition which is in line with our strategy to increase our scale and expand the range of services that we offer to local authorities. Differentiated through the therapeutic support it provides foster parents, delivering outstanding outcomes for local authorities and foster children, the acquisition of By the Bridge is another tangible step towards fulfilling Cambian’s vision to provide a full continuum of care for children in the UK.”