Singapore has no public database of small-business sales. The best evidence is the handful of deals where a listed company told the market what it paid for a private business. We read 29 of those filings, checked every figure against the original document, and set out what they show and what they don’t.
Singapore deals where a listed buyer disclosed what it paid. Every figure checked against the original document.
Across the 15 deals that disclose both the price and the target’s historical profit. Median about 6.5x.
Across 23 deals that set out payment terms. The rest came in shares, later, or against targets.
YY Group paid 80% of a 7.9x price in its own shares, locked up for a year (2026).
In the 15 deals that disclose both the price and the target’s historical profit, listed buyers paid between 2.1x and 10x that profit, with a median of about 6.5x. Each multiple is the price divided by the profit for the stake bought.
Read these with care. The filings use different profit measures: some give pre-tax profit, some profit after tax, and two are adjusted. These are headline prices: most buyers paid part in their own shares, later, or against future targets. And they are not the same measure as an EBITDA multiple, which is usually lower.
| Deal | Year | Price ÷ profit | Profit measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISOTeam buys Rong Shun | 2017 | 2.1x | pre-tax profit (unaudited) |
| Livingstone Health buys a Hougang GP clinic | 2026 | 2.75x | adjusted pre-tax profit |
| Neo Group takes 51% of RIFI (Crusty’s) | 2021 | 3.3x | pre-tax profit, pre-money |
| TEE-led consortium buys Chiang Kiong | 2017 | 3.4x | two-year average net profit |
| Nordic buys Austin Energy | 2015 | 3.4x | pre-tax profit |
| HC Surgical buys 51% of Chirurgia | 2026 | 4.9x | pre-tax profit |
| AsiaMedic buys LE Private Clinic | 2023 | 5.3x | net profit (unaudited) |
| ABR (Swensen’s) buys 80% of Chilli Padi | 2017 | 6.5x | normalised net profit (as stated) |
| Neo Group buys 51% of How’s Catering | 2018 | 6.8x | pre-tax profit |
| Koufu buys Deli Asia | 2020 | 7.7x | pre-tax profit |
| YY Group buys 95% of Xtreme Solutions | 2026 | 7.9x | net profit (unaudited) |
| Clearbridge buys 51% of Dental Focus | 2019 | 8.1x | net profit |
| Kimly buys 75% of Tenderfresh | 2021 | 8.4x | pre-tax profit excluding COVID grants |
| Neo Group buys a further 25.7% of Thong Siek | 2018 | 9.9x | pre-tax profit |
| Neo Group buys 90% of CT Vegetables & Fruits | 2015 | 10x | pre-tax profit |
In 23 deals that set out payment terms, the share of the price paid in cash at completion ranged from nil to 100%, with a median of 72%. 7 were all cash at completion; in 7, about half or less was.
YY Group bought 95% of a Singapore distributor for S$4.5m, 7.9x its unaudited net profit. Only S$0.9m was cash; 80% was paid in YY shares locked up for 12 months. Filing, 2026
mm2 Asia agreed up to S$26m for 51% of an events group, 12.7x the S$4m minimum profit it required. Only S$6m was payable up front; 77% depended on profit targets. Term sheet, 2016
A listed healthcare group paid S$679,000 of a S$1.33m price for a Hougang GP clinic at completion. S$400,000 depends on the next two years’ profit and S$150,000 on a new clinic licence. Filing, 2026
AsiaMedic paid for an aesthetic clinic entirely in its own shares, released over three years after a 36-month lock-up. Filing, 2023
Few filings show the adjustments a buyer makes to the seller’s profit. One that does is the 2026 sale of a Hougang GP clinic to Livingstone Health. The clinic reported pre-tax profit of about S$872,000. After the buyer’s adjustments, it was valued on about S$484,000, 44% less. See the filing.
| Adjustment | S$ |
|---|---|
| Reported pre-tax profit | 872,000 |
| Remove one-off income | less 110,000 |
| Rent payable to the doctor under a new tenancy | less 166,000 |
| Extra operating costs | less 26,000 |
| Higher pay for the doctor | less 86,000 |
| Adjusted pre-tax profit | 484,000 |
On the reported figure the price was about 1.5x profit; on the adjusted figure, about 2.75x. One clinic is not a trend, but it shows how market rent and market pay for the owner change the number a buyer works from. Our guides to EBITDA and SDE vs EBITDA explain the adjustments.
F&B has more disclosed Singapore deals than any other sector, and they span every kind of price:
All 17 F&B deals are on our multiples page, each linked to its filing.
Singapore has no public data on how multiples change with size, so this comes from closed small-business deals in the US:
| Deal size (US) | Typical multiple |
|---|---|
| Under US$0.5m | About 2.0x owner’s earnings |
| US$0.5m to US$2m | About 3x owner’s earnings |
| US$2m to US$5m | About 4.1x EBITDA |
| US$5m to US$50m | About 5.5x EBITDA |
Source: IBBA Market Pulse, Q4 2025. Owner’s earnings (SDE) is profit before the owner’s own pay.
We also publish indicative ranges for 63 types of owner-operated business, on enterprise value to normalised EBITDA: profit after a market salary for the owner and market rent. These are our estimates, set conservatively from the deals above and from overseas small-business data. They are not averages of actual sales, and they are on a different measure from the multiples in this study. See them on the multiples page, or apply them to your own figures in the valuation calculator.
25 of the 29 deals we read are below. Four are left out of the charts and this table: one whose figures the cited filing does not show (Far East Group and M-Tech, 2019), one priced only on revenue (Securitas and Chubb Guarding, 2011), and two listed groups taken private (RE&S, 2024; Select Group, 2016). All 29 are on the multiples page.
| Year | Deal | Sector | Price ÷ profit | Profit measure or pricing basis | Cash at completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Livingstone Health buys a Hougang GP clinic | GP clinic | 2.75x | adjusted pre-tax profit | 51% |
| 2026 | HC Surgical buys 51% of Chirurgia | Specialist clinic | 4.9x | pre-tax profit | 100% |
| 2026 | YY Group buys 95% of Xtreme Solutions | Distribution | 7.9x | net profit (unaudited) | 20% |
| 2023 | AsiaMedic buys LE Private Clinic | Medical aesthetics | 5.3x | net profit (unaudited) | 0% |
| 2019 | Clearbridge buys 51% of Dental Focus | Dental | 8.1x | net profit | 62.5% |
| 2017 | TEE-led consortium buys Chiang Kiong | Waste and recycling | 3.4x | two-year average net profit | 100% |
| 2017 | ISOTeam buys Rong Shun | Construction and M&E | 2.1x | pre-tax profit (unaudited) | 57% |
| 2016 | mm2 Asia buys 51% of UnUsUaL (term sheet) | Events | n/a | minimum profit required, not reported profit | 23% |
| 2015 | Nordic buys Austin Energy | Industrial services | 3.4x | pre-tax profit | 58% |
| 2015 | GKE buys 70% of Marquis Services | Logistics | n/a | guaranteed future profit | not stated |
| 2024 | V2Y takes over a Clementi coffee shop | F&B: coffee shop | n/a | no profit disclosed | 100% |
| 2023 | YKGI buys out its partner in Fine Food | F&B: food court | n/a | priced on net tangible assets | 100% |
| 2021 | Kimly buys 75% of Tenderfresh | F&B: chain with central kitchen | 8.4x | pre-tax profit excluding COVID grants | 63% |
| 2021 | Neo Group takes 51% of RIFI (Crusty’s) | F&B: food manufacturing | 3.3x | pre-tax profit, pre-money | 100% |
| 2020 | Koufu buys Deli Asia | F&B: central production | 7.7x | pre-tax profit | not stated |
| 2020 | Kimly buys Wei Sheng with its shophouses | F&B: coffee shop with property | n/a | priced on property (50.8x profit) | 72% |
| 2020 | Jumbo buys 75% of Kok Kee | F&B: hawker brand | n/a | no profit disclosed | 35% |
| 2019 | BreadTalk buys Food Junction | F&B: food courts | n/a | little or no profit | 100% |
| 2019 | SATS buys out BRF’s 49% of SATS BRF | F&B: food supply | n/a | priced below net tangible assets | 100% |
| 2018 | Neo Group buys 51% of How’s Catering | F&B: catering | 6.8x | pre-tax profit | 83% |
| 2018 | Neo Group buys 51% of Lavish Dine | F&B: catering | n/a | loss-making | 80% |
| 2018 | Neo Group buys a further 25.7% of Thong Siek | F&B: food manufacturing | 9.9x | pre-tax profit | 52% |
| 2017 | ABR (Swensen’s) buys 80% of Chilli Padi | F&B: catering and dining | 6.5x | normalised net profit (as stated) | 90% |
| 2017 | Kimly takes over a Bedok Reservoir coffee shop | F&B: coffee shop | n/a | no profit disclosed | 0% |
| 2015 | Neo Group buys 90% of CT Vegetables & Fruits | F&B: food supply | 10x | pre-tax profit | 89% |
Only listed companies have to disclose what they pay, so every deal here has a listed buyer. That tilts the sample towards larger targets and towards buyers who pay partly in their own shares. Private sales between owners and private buyers are not disclosed. The deals run from 2011 to 2026.
Price ÷ profit is the headline price divided by the historical profit for the stake bought, on whatever profit measure the filing gives. It is not an EBITDA multiple. Cash at completion is the share of the total price, including any deferred or contingent part, paid in cash on completion.
Each figure was read from the original filing, page by page, and recomputed on 25 October 2026. We keep a copy of every filing. If you find an error, tell us at ben@clearmere.com and we will correct it.
No two businesses are alike. Size, how much the business depends on its owner, recurring revenue, the lease and how the price is paid all move the outcome. Use these figures for context, not to price a particular business.
Clearmere, “What Singapore SMEs sell for: the evidence from 29 deals”, October 2026, https://clearmere.com/what-singapore-smes-sell-forFor comment or our working on any deal, contact Benjamin Tan, Founder, at ben@clearmere.com or +65 8960 1201.
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