As more pre-school owners in S’pore look to sell, buyers give centres a new life

According to business brokers, more pre-school operators are mulling over potentially selling their centres, with some buyers seeing this as an opportunity to expand.

Published Oct 27, 2026, 05:00 AM

Updated Oct 27, 2026, 05:00 AM

More Singapore pre-school owners are considering sales because of higher costs, retirement and staff shortages. Brokers say enquiries have risen, but actual transfers remain limited.

Buyers see value in established centres and some parents have taken over schools to protect a trusted environment. Lillipods also bought a Yishun centre and kept all staff.

ECDA says licence transfers need notice and safeguards to protect children and parents.

SINGAPORE – More pre-school operators are mulling over potentially selling their centres, according to business brokers, as rising operating pressures and retirement plans prompt some owners to consider an exit.

Education business broker EduGrow said it now has more than 20 childcare centres listed for sale at any one time, up from around five to 10 previously.

Since 2024, it has received 87 inquiries from childcare operators considering a sale, although not all eventually put their centres on the market.

Other brokers reported a similar rise in interest, particularly among those struggling with manpower costs, rents and competition for enrolment.

But this has not necessarily translated into more centres changing hands.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said it processed about 50 to 70 applications for a transfer of licence each year from 2021 to 2025.

The number fluctuated from year to year, with no discernible trend, it said. As at Sept 30, about 30 transfer-of-licence applications had been approved in 2026.

Such transfers are required when a pre-school changes licensees.

This can happen when a centre is sold to a new owner, but also when the type of entity owning the centre changes, such as when an operator converts from a sole proprietorship to a private limited company.

Hence, the figures do not reflect the number of pre-school sales.

EduGrow founder Benjamin Tan said many owners approaching his firm are long-time, single-centre operators who are reaching retirement age and do not have family members willing to take over.

“A large group of founder-operators opened their centres in the 2000s when the Government was pushing hard for more childcare capacity,” he said.

“Many of them are now in their 50s and 60s, their children have built careers elsewhere, and without anyone to take over, a sale is the only exit available to them.”

EduGrow has brokered the sale or takeover of 21 childcare centres over the past 24 months.

Tan said Singapore’s falling birth rate is not the only reason why operators are exploring selling their centres.

“You can have two centres in the same catchment area, with one close to full and the other at half-capacity,” he said, adding that how a centre is marketed and run also matters.

TheCo, which began focusing on pre-school transactions in 2025, received about three to five seller inquiries a month in 2026.

Its principal consultant, Tianhao Chua, said sellers tend to be independent operators with one to three centres, or franchisees of larger brands.

Many centres brought to the firm were loss-making or had other issues that made them difficult to sell, he said.

ProEdu business broker Lin Qing also said more pre-school operators had approached her looking for buyers in the past two years.

She described the market as favouring buyers, with some centres proving so difficult to sell that she had declined to take them on .

Some landlords had also approached her to find replacement operators after childcare tenants decided to leave before their leases expired.

Buyers see avenue for expansion

Yet, as some operators seek an exit, others see an opportunity to expand.

Pre-school operator Lillipods, which draws inspiration from Finland’s early childhood education approach, took over the former Picket Fence centre at North View in Yishun.

A Lillipods spokesman said the centre’s appeal was that it already serves an established community, with children, families and educators in place. All existing staff were invited to remain, and all chose to stay.

The opportunity was introduced by an intermediary and proceeded as a commercial acquisition.

Lillipods also held dialogue sessions with parents to explain its approach and address questions about possible changes to areas such as the curriculum, fees and learning environment. “For a young child, a pre-school takeover should not feel like a corporate transaction,” the spokesman said.

Lillipods said it remains open to acquiring more centres here, alongside opening new ones.

For other buyers, taking over a pre-school is less about expansion than saving a place their children have come to love.

Nicole Tai is among a group of parents who took over Li Hwan By-the-Park earlier in 2026 after the pre-school announced that it would close.

The centre was renamed Wonder Yard Schoolhouse, with the takeover completed on April 1.

Tai said the parents had initially been helping the school to raise its enrolment and had no intention of buying a pre-school.

When the closure was finalised, families looked for alternative schools but struggled to find one with the same environment and teaching approach.

Tai said the parents were already familiar with the financial pressures of running a pre-school.

Monthly operating costs were high, she said, while enrolling more children would require another teacher to maintain staff-to-child ratios. Building upkeep, upgrades and teaching materials also added to costs.

Instead of transferring the licence to a new company, which she said could have taken much longer, the parents acquired the existing company along with its licences and contracts.

The process, from the decision to proceed to the handover, took less than two months.

Tai said the priority was ensuring that the administrative changes did not disrupt the children’s learning experience.

Another parent, Catherine Ong, made a similar decision in 2018 after the long-time owner of Kids and Kins Child Care Centre decided to retire.

Ong’s three children had attended the centre, and her family had known its owner and teachers for more than a decade.

At the time, she was a research scientist at DSO National Laboratories, where she had spent nearly 20 years in biodefence research and development.

When she heard that the owner intended to sell the centre and retire, she initially offered – partly in jest – to take over.

The owner was receptive, and Ong and her husband used their savings to buy the business despite having no experience running a company or working in early childhood education.

The previous owner gave them a 50% discount on the original asking price and guided them through the licence-transfer process.

Existing teachers agreed to stay, and one was trained to become the centre’s principal before the handover.

The process took around five months. Ong left her research career in 2019 to run the centre full-time.

ECDA said safeguards are in place to minimise disruption when pre-schools change licensees.

Existing licensees must give parents and guardians at least three months’ written notice of a proposed transfer and remain responsible for the centre’s operations and quality of care and education until the transfer takes effect.

Once the transfer is approved, the incoming licensee takes over under the existing licence tenure.

Changes to areas such as the pre-school’s name, curriculum or fees must still comply with ECDA requirements, including notification periods for parents.

Tan said the interest in pre-school sales should not be seen simply as operators abandoning the sector.

Among the buyers he has encountered are both existing pre-school groups looking to expand and first-time operators, often professionals in their 30s and 40s.

He sees this as a possible generational shift, with older operators handing over their centres to a younger crop of owners.

Syarafana Shafeeq is a social affairs journalist at The Straits Times.

Education and schools

据商业经纪人称，越来越多的学前教育经营者正在考虑出售他们的中心，一些买家将此视为扩张的机会。

发布于 2026 年 10 月 27 日上午 5:00

更新于2026年10月27日凌晨5:00

由于成本上升、退休和员工短缺等原因，越来越多的新加坡幼儿园园长正在考虑出售。经纪人表示，咨询量有所增加，但实际交易量仍然有限。

买家看好成熟的教育中心，一些家长为了维护原有的良好环境，甚至接管了学校。Lillipods 也收购了义顺的一家教育中心，并保留了所有员工。

幼儿培育署表示，执照转让需要提前通知并采取保障措施，以保护儿童和家长。

新加坡——据商业经纪人称，越来越多的学前教育机构正在考虑出售其中心，因为不断上升的运营压力和退休计划促使一些业主考虑退出。

教育经纪公司 EduGrow 表示，目前该公司同时挂牌出售的托儿中心超过 20 家，而此前只有大约 5 到 10 家。

自 2024 年以来，该公司已收到 87 家托儿机构的出售意向咨询，但并非所有机构最终都将他们的中心推向市场。

其他经纪商也报告了类似的关注度上升，尤其是那些在人力成本、租金和招生竞争方面苦苦挣扎的经纪商。

但这并不一定意味着更多的中心易手。

针对《海峡时报》的询问，幼儿培育署（ECDA）表示，从 2021 年到 2025 年，每年大约处理 50 至 70 份许可证转让申请。

报告称，该数字逐年波动，没有明显的趋势。截至9月30日，2026年约有30份许可证转让申请获得批准。

当幼儿园更换经营者时，需要进行此类转让。

当中心被出售给新所有者时，可能会发生这种情况；但当拥有该中心的实体类型发生变化时，也可能发生这种情况，例如当运营商从独资企业转变为私人有限公司时。

因此，这些数字并不能反映学前教育产品的销售数量。

EduGrow 创始人 Benjamin Tan 表示，许多前来咨询的业主都是长期经营单一中心的，他们即将退休，而且没有家人愿意接手。

他说：“2000 年代，政府大力推动增加托儿服务能力，当时一大批创始人兼经营者开设了他们的中心。”

“他们中的许多人现在都五六十岁了，他们的孩子已经在其他地方建立了事业，而且没有人接手，所以出售是他们唯一的出路。”

在过去的 24 个月里，EduGrow 促成了 21 家托儿中心的出售或收购。

Tan表示，新加坡出生率下降并不是运营商考虑出售其中心的唯一原因。

“在同一个招生区域内，可以有两个中心，一个接近满员，另一个只使用了一半的容量，”他说道，并补充说，中心的营销和运营方式也很重要。

TheCo 从 2025 年开始专注于学前教育交易，2026 年每月收到约 3 至 5 个卖家咨询。

其首席顾问蔡天豪表示，卖家往往是拥有 1 到 3 个中心的独立经营者，或是大型品牌的加盟商。

他说，公司收购的许多中心都处于亏损状态，或者存在其他难以出售的问题。

ProEdu 商业经纪人林青也表示，过去两年里，有更多学前教育经营者联系她，希望寻找买家。

她形容市场对买家有利，有些中心很难出售，以至于她拒绝接手。

一些房东也曾联系她，希望她能帮忙寻找新的托儿所经营者，因为一些托儿所的租户在租约到期前决定搬走。

买家看到了扩张的途径。

然而，当一些运营商寻求退出时，另一些运营商则看到了扩张的机会。

从芬兰的幼儿教育方法中汲取灵感的学前教育机构 Lillipods 接管了位于义顺 North View 的前 Picket Fence 中心。

Lillipods 的一位发言人表示，该中心的吸引力在于它已经服务于一个成熟的社区，社区里有儿童、家庭和教育工作者。所有现有员工都被邀请留任，并且所有人都选择留下。

这次机会是通过中间人介绍的，并以商业收购的方式进行的。

Lillipods还与家长举行了对话会，解释其理念并解答有关课程、费用和学习环境等方面可能变化的问题。“对于年幼的孩子来说，幼儿园的接管不应该让他们感觉像是一场商业交易，”发言人表示。

Lillipods表示，除了开设新中心外，公司仍对收购更多本地中心持开放态度。

对于其他买家来说，接管一所幼儿园与其说是为了扩张，不如说是为了保住孩子们喜爱的地方。

2026年初，李焕公园幼儿园宣布即将关闭，Nicole Tai和其他一些家长接管了这所幼儿园。

该中心更名为 Wonder Yard Schoolhouse，收购于 4 月 1 日完成。

戴先生表示，这些家长最初只是帮助学校提高入学率，并没有打算购买幼儿园。

学校关闭最终确定后，家长们开始寻找替代学校，但很难找到一所拥有相同环境和教学方法的学校。

泰表示，家长们早已熟悉开办幼儿园的经济压力。

她表示，每月运营成本很高，而且招收更多学生需要增聘一名教师才能维持师生比例。此外，校舍维护、升级改造和教学材料也增加了成本。

她表示，与其将许可证转让给一家新公司（这可能会花费更长时间），这对父母不如直接收购这家现有公司及其许可证和合同。

从决定进行到最终交接，整个过程耗时不到两个月。

戴先生表示，首要任务是确保行政改革不会影响孩子们的学习体验。

另一位家长 Catherine Ong 在 2018 年也做出了类似的决定，当时 Kids and Kins 儿童保育中心的长期所有者决定退休。

Ong 的三个孩子都曾就读于该中心，她的家人与中心的负责人和老师们相识超过十年。

当时，她是DSO国家实验室的研究科学家，在那里从事生物防御研究和开发工作近20年。

当她听说老板打算卖掉中心并退休时，她最初提出——部分是开玩笑地——要接管中心。

店主很配合，翁和她的丈夫用自己的积蓄买下了这家店，尽管他们没有任何经营公司或从事幼儿教育的经验。

前车主给了他们原价的 50% 折扣，并指导他们完成了牌照过户手续。

现有教师同意留任，其中一位在交接前接受了培训，成为该中心的校长。

整个过程大约持续了五个月。Ong于2019年放弃了她的研究事业，全职负责该中心的运营。

幼儿培育署表示，已采取保障措施，以尽量减少学前教育机构更换持牌人时可能造成的干扰。

现有持牌人必须至少提前三个月以书面形式通知家长和监护人拟议的转让事宜，并在转让生效前继续负责中心的运营以及保育和教育质量。

一旦转让获得批准，新的持牌人将在现有许可证期限内接管。

幼儿园名称、课程或费用等方面的变更仍须符合幼儿培育署的要求，包括通知家长的期限。

Tan表示，对学前教育销售的兴趣不应简单地视为运营商放弃该行业。

在他遇到的买家中，既有希望扩张的现有学前教育集团，也有首次经营者，他们通常是 30 多岁和 40 多岁的专业人士。

他认为这可能是一次代际更迭，老一代经营者将他们的中心移交给年轻一代的业主。

Syarafana Shafeeq 是《海峡时报》的社会事务记者。

教育和学校