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The parents of more than 8000 children will get a note complete with a Christmas-themed decorative heading from ABC Learning Centres this week informing them the company's 127 New Zealand centres are to be sold.
A call for expressions of interest from potential buyers was made public yesterday.
It was hoped all of the centres, as well as the ABC-owned New Zealand College of Early Childhood Education in Christchurch, would be sold early next year to a single buyer.
Parents are told in the letter that the sale will be a "positive opportunity".
"We do not envisage any centres being closed as a result," the letter states.
ABC New Zealand general manager Craig Presland said there were already more than 40 interested parties.
ABC's parent company, based in Australia, went into receivership last month. However, the independent New Zealand part of the business did not.
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ABC employs 1410 permanent staff and 694 casual staff in New Zealand. It grew rapidly from 30 centres in early 2007 to the present 127 sites.
Education Minister Anne Tolley said the Ministry of Education was "monitoring the situation closely".
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New Zealand Educational Institute national secretary Paul Goulter said ABC staff needed assurances they would not lose their jobs. "The future of the company is as important to ABC staff as it is to parents and children," Goulter said.
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- reprinted from The Press