The Nursery’s majority shareholders, co-founders Lucy Banister, Peter Dann and David Alterman, have sold 100% of their shares to the Employee Ownership Trust.

All three remain within the business following the move, with ownership transferred to a trust set up for all employees.

Founded in 2001, The Nursery works with clients including Subway, Shell, National Trust and Google. Alterman joined in 2007 to launch its quant offer. In 2018, the company acquired research consultancy Arkenford, later merging it into the overall The Nursery brand.

Based in London, the firm employs around 35 people. 

Lucy Banister is stepping down from the board of directors following the move, while senior managers Pauline McGowan, Ben Moxon and Pete Canning will join the board, alongside finance director Neil Barnett.

Moxon and Canning run The Nursery’s quant teams, Gareth Simmonds leads qualitative research, and Melanie Bigoni, who joined the company earlier this year, continues to lead operations and business development.

Peter Dann, chief executive, The Nursery, said: “The people that work here have always been what makes this business so special, delivering expert insight to a wide range of great clients. Handing ownership over to them feels like the right thing to do; it also makes good business sense as we have a brilliant leadership team and a great group of researchers who’ll be even more engaged in the success of their business as well as their clients’.”

Lewis Silkin LLP and SI Partners advised The Nursery on the process.

Pictured (L-R, top-bottom): David Alterman, Peter Dann, Neil Barnett, Pete Canning, Pauline McGowan, Gareth Simmonds, Ben Moxon, Melanie Bigoni, Lucy Banister