[4] On 12 December 2006, it was announced that ABC would acquire the second largest child care provider in the United States, Chicago based La Petite Academy for 330 million US dollars as well as the 5th largest provider in the United Kingdom, Busy Bees Group, Ltd. With these acquisitions they expanded into the UK market and increased their market share in the US to 1%.

In March 2008, ABC announced it would sell 60 percent of its American child care business to Morgan Stanley, using the proceeds to pay off accumulated debt.

[14] Critics of ABC Learning said it was making considerable profits at the expense of Australian taxpayers whose money subsidised the use of childcare with means-tested tax rebates.

[16] There was also controversy about the dramatic expansion of the company with claims that in some areas ABC - by acquisition - had achieved a monopoly in the provision of childcare services.

[17] ABC Learning also used its considerable financial resources to support challenges to regulations governing childcare and enforcing vicarious liability on the company.

It argued that the company had done all it could reasonably be expected to do to provide facilities that made escape difficult and that any legal liability should rest with the staff involved.

A three-year-old boy escaped from the centre in Lynwood in Western Australia, through a broken fence and was found by staff in a nearby car park.

[21] An unexpected drop of 42 per cent in profit in the second half of 2007 to $37.1 million and its inability to service its $1.8 billion debt triggered a decline in the company's share price.

[23] Trading in ABC Learning shares was suspended in August 2008 after the company failed to release its earnings for the 2007-08 financial year.

[21] Despite selling off assets, the company fell into receivership in November 2008 after increasing debt servicing obligations and its auditors were unable to sign off on its accounts.