US investment company Providence is poised to take over the Dutch childcare group Catalpa for between €400m and €500m, the NRC reports on Thursday.

Other candidate buyers, including AEA, BC Partners and Carlyle have dropped out of the running, the paper says, quoting Reuters.
Catalpa, founded in 1975, has some 220 daycare centres nationwide and is owned by Dutch investment group Bencis.
In June, the Financieele Dagblad reported that childcare user groups are worried about private equity’s interest in the sector, which is largely funded by the government.