How do I sell my recruitment agency in Singapore without consultants or 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 agency name and licence details, buyers see identifying details only after signing an NDA you have approved by name, and you decide when your consultants are told. That matters more in recruitment than in most sectors, because a rumour can prompt your best billers to take calls from competitors before anything is agreed.
What is my recruitment agency worth?
An agency is priced off normalised earnings, meaning the accounts adjusted for owner-specific costs, including a market salary for any desk you run yourself. Buyers look at gross profit, never revenue, then at the split between contract margin and permanent fees, how much is billed by you, consultant tenure and client concentration. Owner-operated recruitment agencies in Singapore typically change hands at roughly 2.5 to 3.5 times normalised EBITDA, with up to about 5 times only for larger, contract-led agencies with a management layer and competing buyers. We give you a written valuation under NDA, for a fixed fee credited against our success fee if you sell with us.
Who buys recruitment agencies in Singapore?
Larger recruitment and staffing groups adding a specialism or a contractor book, regional groups building a Singapore presence, competitors looking for consultants and clients, and senior managers buying through a management buyout. Groups tend to pay for contract margin, systems and a team that stays. Individual and management buyers pay for an agency they can run personally. Each values the same agency differently, so a quiet competitive process usually protects the price.
What happens to my MOM employment agency licence when I sell?
An employment agency licence is generally issued to the business entity, and the key appointment holder's certification belongs to that individual, so neither moves across in a sale of the business assets. That is why most agency sales are share sales, which keep the licensed entity intact. Changes to directors, shareholders or the key appointment holder usually need to be notified to, or approved by, MOM, and if the licensed person is you, the buyer needs a certified replacement in place. Check the current requirements with your lawyer before any buyer is approached.
What does Clearmere charge to sell a recruitment agency?
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.
Will I be paid the full price at completion?
Often not all of it. Because gross profit can leave with consultants or clients, buyers of recruitment agencies commonly pay part of the price at completion and the rest deferred, or as an earn-out linked to gross profit over the following one to two years. That is not a reason to avoid a sale. It is a reason to negotiate the terms carefully: what counts towards the target, who runs the desks, and what happens if the buyer changes the business. We set those terms out early, in writing.
