BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2000--Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NASDAQ: BFAM), the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, early education and work/life solutions, today announced that it has acquired Circle of Friends, one of Ireland's premier nursery operators. The development comes at a time when Irish government officials, child care advocates, families and employers alike are exploring ways to increase the availability of high-quality child care for working parents.

''Partnering with Circle of Friends builds on our global momentum and will bring together our expertise in meeting employer's unique work-site child care needs with local experience in providing culturally appropriate child care and early education in Ireland,'' said Bright Horizons' Chief Executive Officer Roger Brown. ''This will enable us to serve employers in Ireland's intensely competitive market where work/life solutions can help them gain a competitive advantage and at the same time provide a wonderful, educational environment for young children.''

Bright Horizons, based in Boston, Massachusetts, completed the acquisition of Circle of Friends on Friday, December 8, 2000. Circle of Friends currently operates two nurseries in Dublin. The facilities, widely regarded as among the highest quality in the Republic, provide professional child care and early years' development for children aged three months to eight years old. Circle of Friends serves employers who purchase spaces in the nurseries to offer as an employment benefit for working parents. Bright Horizons will maintain Circle of Friends' management team, including Managing Director Neil Brown and Group Operations Director Martina Murphy, who will continue to operate the Dublin nurseries and will lead Bright Horizons' growth efforts in Ireland.

''We are proud of the strong reputation we've developed among families and employers for providing quality child care. By joining with Bright Horizons, we hope to be able to expand these services to more working parents throughout Ireland while creating safe, secure and stimulating environments for children,'' said Circle of Friends Managing Director Neil Brown.

The move reflects the beginning of a trend in Ireland similar to one experienced in the U.S., which led to the foundation of Bright Horizons in Boston in 1986. Now, 14 years after its founding, Bright Horizons has become the world's largest provider of work-site child care, operating more than 330 Family Centers for more than 250 clients across the U.S., in Europe and the Pacific Rim. In June of this year, Bright Horizons acquired London-based Nurseryworks, giving the company a major presence in the U.K. employer-sponsored child care market.

The experience of U.S. employers indicates that companies can realize a significant and measurable return on their investment by helping their workforce meet their child care needs. A study by Boston's Simmons Graduate School of Management indicates that 87 percent of employees worry less about their child's safety and well-being when they use work-site child care, making them far more productive in their jobs. The study also indicated that 65 percent of management employees who use work-site child care have been promoted since the birth of their last child. A study conducted for Chase Manhattan Bank found that the company achieved a 117 percent return on its investment in workplace child care in the first year alone. Bright Horizons has been operating Chase's growing national network of back-up child care in the U.S. for more than eight years. Bright Horizon's U.K. operation, Nurseryworks Family Solutions, serves Chase's child care needs in London as well.

Bright Horizons' growth in the U.S. has been attributed to the strong relationships it enjoys both with employers and parents, as well as an unmatched reputation for quality. Bright Horizons manages all its Family Centers to the high quality standards set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a benchmark achieved by only six percent of child care operators in the nation. In a recent survey conducted by an independent research company, 98.1 percent of parents using Bright Horizons child care centers indicated that they are satisfied or highly satisfied with the care their children are receiving. Parents not only benefit from the nurturing staff who care for their children, but find that they also form strong supportive communities with their co-workers that transcend office hierarchies. In addition, parents find that the proximity of the child care to their workplace allows them to spend more time with their children by joining them for lunch, making visits during the day to observe activities, or participating in celebrations and community events.

Join us, Thursday, December 14, 2000 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, for a conference call to discuss our expansion into Ireland and a year-end update. The call-in number for the Bright Horizons conference call is 973-872-3100.

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 clients include 77 of the Fortune 500 and 44 of the ''Best Companies to Work For in America'' as designated by Working Mother magazine. Clients include Ford Motor Company, Cisco Systems, Pfizer, the PGA Tour, Sun Microsystems, J. Sainsbury, Johnson & Johnson, and Universal Studios.

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 expand and operate effectively and profitably in the international market, 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 Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending September 30, 2000 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999.

Contact: Bright Horizons Family Solutions Boston Media Contact: Ilene Hoffer (617) 673-8000 or Dublin Media Contact: Martina Murphy 087-6490886 or Investor Contact: Elizabeth Boland (617) 673-8000