EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 1, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- U.S.-based Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NASDAQ: BFAM), the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, early education and work/life solutions, has acquired Red Apple Nurseries, bringing Scotland's premier provider of high-quality child care into the Bright Horizons Family Solutions family. The four Red Apple Nurseries, three in Edinburgh and one in Livingston, represent an important expansion of Bright Horizons Family Solutions' U.K. business and the company's first entry into Scotland. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"There is tremendous opportunity for Bright Horizons Family Solutions to serve employers and families in Scotland and help them achieve work/life balance by offering high-quality child care. We found a valuable partner in Red Apple Nurseries, with whom we share a commitment to providing children with a dynamic, nurturing, educational environment. With strong roots in the Scottish market, their four nurseries will serve as the cornerstone for our growth in Scotland while providing the local expertise critical to appropriately supporting children and families here," Bright Horizons Family Solutions Chief Executive Officer David Lissy said.

Diane Peden, Principal of Red Apple Nurseries, added, "For more than a decade, we have worked hard to establish the Red Apple Nurseries as the very best choice for the care and education of young children. This new partnership with Bright Horizons Family Solutions will allow the Red Apple Nurseries to broaden its reach and to care for even more children and parents throughout Scotland. It is an exciting development that will build on the foundation we have established in ways we never imagined."

This development comes at a time when the demand for high-quality child care in Scotland and throughout the U.K. has never been higher. Several studies reported by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Scotland Office point to the increasing need for child care and early education solutions for working families:

    --  The number of women in the workforce in the U.K. is at its
        highest ever, with 12 million in employment, and 41 percent of
        all working age women have dependent children.
    --  80 percent of parents think employers should provide more help
        with child care.
    --  73 percent of parents think that family-friendly employment
        policies will become more important to employers over the next
        several years.
    --  Collectively, U.K. workers lose 192 million days to workplace
        absences annually, costing employers (pound)10.7 billion.
        After general illness, family responsibilities are the most
        significant cause of absences.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions specialises in partnerships with employers to develop and manage customised programmes that allow them to meet their employees' unique child care needs. The company's child care solutions help employers reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, improve recruitment and retention, and enhance employee morale and loyalty. In addition to traditional full-time child care options, for instance, Bright Horizons Family Solutions is the leader in Back-Up child care, and recently opened the first fully dedicated Back-Up nursery in the U.K. for a leading financial services firm. Back-Up care provides an enriching child care option for employees on an emergency basis when their other child care arrangements break down.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions currently operates more than 400 nurseries in the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Canada. The company's global growth has been attributed to the strong relationships it enjoys both with employers and parents, as well as an unmatched reputation for quality. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company operates in England under the name Nurseryworks Family Solutions and in Ireland as Bright Horizons Ireland. Bright Horizons Family Solutions clients include IBM, Johnson & Johnson, J Sainsbury plc, Cisco Systems, The Pentland Group, Motorola, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and HSBC among others.

    Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (www.brighthorizons.com) is the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, early education and work/life solutions. Bright Horizons has been recognized for its commitment to quality by the Child Care Action Campaign and for its contributions to the community as the recipient of the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Citizenship. Bright Horizons' 325 clients include 82 of the Fortune 500 and 48 of the "Best Companies For Working Mothers" as designated by Working Mother magazine.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Bright Horizons Family Solutions' actual results may vary significantly from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the ability of the Company to execute contracts relating to new commitments and to operate effectively and profitably abroad, as well as other factors that are discussed in detail in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001.

CONTACT:          Bright Horizons Family Solutions
                  U.K. Media Contact: Susan Hay, 0207 354 9943
                  U.S. Media Contact: Ilene Hoffer, 617-673-8044
                  Investor Contact: Elizabeth Boland, 617-673-8000


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