Edmund Stuart "Eddy" Groves, who was born in Durban, South Africa in 1966, is an Australian businessman, founder and former chief executive officer of ABC Learning, once one of Australia's largest companies and one of the world's biggest childcare providers prior to going into administration.
Armed with a loan from his wife's father, he bought a distributorship when he was nineteen years old, which was the start of his business career.
They both held a 14.9% share in the company worth $2.5 billion at its peak, making Eddy Groves one of Australia's richest people at the time, according to Business Review Weekly.
[8] Even though Groves stated to the ASX that ABC had complied with its financial obligations, there was concern that several directors had sold shares in the days leading up to the announcement, before the price fell, and that Groves had not fully revealed the effect that the stock losses would have on the business through the effect of margin calls by lending partners.
As of 10 November 2008, Groves and ABC were estimated to owe the main banks in excess of A$1 Billion with the Federal Government appointing a forensic accountant to go over the books, due to incorrect financial reporting.
Most centres were sold in December 2009 to Goodstart Early Learning, a newly formed not-for-profit group[7] created by a coalition of charitable organisations.
In June 2012, Kemp was found not guilty in the Brisbane District Court of charges of breaching his director's duties.
[17] Groves had investments in other companies outside ABC: such as ELMM (Eddy, Le Neve, Martin and his wife, Mary).
ELMM in turn owned a significant stake, in Ezi Debit, which handled payments for many ABC parents.