![\"Carla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1831aa086e9fcd1e000a9c8dd83c3a0f4f07cf21dea0583fab18387ffe0cf2db.png\")
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n The childcare company owned by the wife of disgraced ABC Learning founder Eddy Groves<\/a> and the convicted former chief financial officer of the collapsed chain are working with a coal mining magnate to rapidly expand their multimillion-dollar childcare chain.<\/p>\n Imagine Education Group is in the process of taking over Eden Academy, a merger that could result in a new 100-plus centre childcare chain, according to documents filed by the corporate regulator and four industry sources.<\/p>\n The sources have been granted anonymity to discuss confidential matters.<\/p>\n Imagine Group is owned by Groves\u2019 wife<\/a>, Viryan Collins-Rubie, a childcare executive in her own right. Collins-Rubie said her husband has never owned a share or been an executive in Imagine.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I will also say that my husband built some of the most amazing childcare centres in the world, and I value his experience and his advice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n However, Rampart reported on Friday that Groves does own shares in the US arm of the company.<\/p>\n One well-placed source also said Groves \u2013 who was declared bankrupt in 2013<\/a> \u2013 attended meetings held on the Gold Coast to discuss the future company with senior executives. A separate source close to the couple denied that Groves had anything to do with the meetings, and was present at one simply because the meeting was held in the couple\u2019s home.<\/p>\n \u201cEddy Groves is a great friend, mentor and my very first boss!\u201d<\/p>\n Eden Academy co-founder Sean Collins<\/p>\n His appearance \u2013 coupled by Groves being announced as a panelist for a \u201cmasterclass series\u201d pitched at childcare operators \u2013 fuelled speculation that the former rich-lister could be involved in the future childcare chain.<\/p>\n There is no suggestion Groves has anything to do with Imagine\u2019s Australian operations.<\/p>\n Related Article<\/p>\n Eden operates 60 childcare centres and Imagine 53 centres nationwide.<\/p>\n Also involved in the merger are Chris Wallin, a geologist-turned-coal billionaire<\/a>, and James Black, ABC Learning\u2019s former chief financial officer<\/a> (CFO), who pleaded guilty in 2015 to three counts of authorising false or misleading information.<\/p>\n Eden co-owners Chris Sacre and Sean Collins \u2013 also an ex-ABC executive \u2013 are ready to sell imminently, sources said. The pair denied the sale when approached by this masthead on Thursday, or any knowledge of Groves\u2019 involvement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have every intention to continue to grow Eden,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n Related Article He added: \u201cEddy Groves is a great friend, mentor and my very first boss! I\u2019ve admired his courage and influence across the sector over the last 20 years having faced so many challenges and always kept children\u2019s development as his core focus.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t comment on [Groves\u2019] ownership\/involvement with Imagine as I simply don\u2019t know what that is.\u201d<\/p>\n Groves said Imagine Education was his wife\u2019s company and he was not involved.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been involved in business and property development interests in both Australia and in North America,\u201d Groves said. \u201cBut the success of Imagine Education is Viryan\u2019s success story and not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo be clear, my wife Viryan Collins-Rubie was in childcare sector well before we met. Like many couples, we met through our work in the same sector.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine Education is Viryan\u2019s business, and she operated it away from ABC. Any speculation that I am a shareholder in Imagine or am an executive is not only wrong, but it takes away from my wife\u2019s career and her own individual success.\u201d<\/p>\n The involvement of those close to the spectacular multibillion-dollar collapse of ABC Learning Centres \u2013 which devastated hundreds of parents, investors and creditors \u2013 has angered some Imagine and Eden staff members aware of the impending deal.<\/p>\n The collapse of the company that once had an overwhelming dominance over Australia\u2019s childcare industry in 2008 led to years-long ASIC investigations, public examinations and civil lawsuits.<\/p>\n Deakin University professor Andrew Scott, who has written a book on the ongoing childcare crisis, said the potential re-emergence of figures connected to the world\u2019s biggest childcare collapse on the ASX raised red flags about the ability of the sector to provide safe and quality education for children.<\/p>\n Related Article Scott referred to various inquiries launched last year in the wake of accused paedophile Joshua Brown\u2019s arrest<\/a> that repeatedly heard that for-profit models often meant child safety was compromised<\/a> by shareholder value.<\/p>\n Black was sentenced<\/a> to an 18-month suspended jail term and issued a $2000 fine after he admitted to lying to ABC\u2019s auditors while he was CFO. When grilled during public examinations, Black conceded despite holding the top financial job, he had no access to the company\u2019s books.<\/p>\n Wallin and Black are already shareholders and directors in Imagine Education entities, while Wallin recently became the sole owner of the group\u2019s head trust. The duo did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n Many of those involved in the impending merger have longstanding relationships that date back decades. Collins worked in acquisitions at ABC before joining his Eden co-founder Sacre, who was G8 Education\u2019s CFO between 2008 and 2016.<\/p>\n Wallin and Black also have longstanding associations; the mining rich-lister hired the accountant to work for QCoal<\/a> soon after the spectacular collapse of ABC.<\/p>\n Eden Education Group posted a revenue of $122 million last financial year but lost $3.8 million. That same year, Imagine Education pulled $174 million and a profit of $10.5 million.<\/p>\n Eden\u2019s auditors noted in its financial report that urgent funding was needed to ensure the \u201congoing viability\u201d after citing the year\u2019s loss, while its net current liabilities totalled $37.9 million.<\/p>\n \u201cManagement acknowledges that their ongoing viability relies heavily on successfully securing additional bank funding, extending existing facilities, and deferring repayments to related parties.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these fail, the Group may not be able to realise its assets or discharge its liabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s largest public childcare operator, G8 Education, announced in April it would close up to 40 of its centres amid the ongoing fallout from the childcare crisis that exposed glaring safety issues.<\/p>\n An investigation by this masthead revealed G8 was Victoria\u2019s most sanctioned childcare provider<\/a>, with almost one-tenth of its centres penalised since 2016. Another childcare chain, Affinity Education, was exposed for continuing to push aggressive expansion despite a longstanding problem of children being left unattended.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"ABC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d24e03e47dd93bfaabfb0cadbee5b2465dd5dd33.jpeg\")
ABC Learning collapsed in 2008. Glenn Hunt<\/p>\n![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8812fe2f391bbbb1a885044d0e2f43b5cef50a6f.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"ABC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/34d2c871f50bb12d7ba495f6b1c3f815720b2a84.jpeg\")
ABC Learning Centres\u2019 Eddy Groves in 2007.Paul Jones<\/p>\n![\"Victoria\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f7d76a9fa67ad41be58891011640dbdb29244187.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Carla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1831aa086e9fcd1e000a9c8dd83c3a0f4f07cf21dea0583fab18387ffe0cf2db.png\")
Carla Jaeger<\/a> is a journalist for The Age. Got a tip? Email carla.jaeger@theage.com.au or message carlajaeger.62 on Signal.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-835264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}