How do I sell my cleaning or security company in Singapore without clients finding out?
Off-market and NDA-gated. Nothing is publicly listed and nothing carries your name. Early materials use a reference code instead of your company name, and buyers see identifying details only after signing an NDA you have approved by name. Contract and client details are released in stages, once a buyer is serious, which matters when some interested parties may also bid against you for work. You decide when your clients, supervisors and site teams are told.
What is my cleaning, security or FM company worth?
It is priced off normalised earnings, meaning the accounts adjusted for owner-specific costs. What moves the number most is the contract book: contract length, renewal record, client mix, margin by contract, and how much depends on public tenders re-tendered on price. Buyers also test how wage step-ups pass through to clients. Owner-operated cleaning and security companies in Singapore typically change hands at roughly 2.5 to 3.5 times normalised EBITDA, up to about 4.5 times for the strongest. Integrated FM businesses with engineering content and multi-year contracts can sit higher, at roughly 3 to 5.5 times. We give you a written valuation under NDA, for a fixed fee credited against our success fee if you sell with us.
Who buys cleaning, security and facilities management companies in Singapore?
Mostly larger facilities management and integrated services groups adding contracts, capabilities or scale, regional and international service companies building a Singapore presence, competitors consolidating in the same segment, and management teams buying the company they already run. Some private equity-backed platforms also assemble service businesses. Each values the same contract book differently, depending on how it fits their existing sites and costs, which is why a quiet competitive process usually beats the first approach.
Do my licences and contracts transfer when I sell?
Licences such as an NEA cleaning business licence or a PLRD security agency licence are generally held by the company itself, and foreign worker quotas are tied to the employing entity. That is why most sales in this sector are share sales: the company, with its licences, workforce and contracts, stays intact under new owners. Even then, some contracts contain change-of-control clauses, and the licensing authorities may need to be notified of or approve changes in ownership, so check the position with your lawyer early. We review the contract book for these points before any buyer is approached.
What does Clearmere charge to sell a cleaning, security or FM company?
Our sale fee is success-based and paid on completion: no sale, no fee. A written valuation is a separate fixed fee, agreed and paid before we start, and credited in full against our success fee if you sign with us within 6 months and the sale completes. The first conversation, a short questionnaire and our written recommendation on which valuation fits are free and carry no obligation.
How do government tenders and wage step-ups affect my price?
Buyers look closely at both. Public sector contracts bring valuable volume, but they are usually re-tendered on price at the end of each term, so a buyer will not pay much for earnings that may not survive the next round. Progressive Wage Model step-ups raise costs on a set schedule, and the question is whether your contracts allow them to be passed through. Showing contract terms, renewal history and how wage increases have been handled in practice is what protects the number.
