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MindChamps rises 10.8% in strong SGX debut

SINGAPORE — Pre-school operator MindChamps posted a strong debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Friday (Nov 24), with its shares closing 10.8 per cent higher at S$0.92 each.

A MindChamps pre-school. Photo: Mindchamps

A MindChamps pre-school. Photo: Mindchamps

SINGAPORE — Pre-school operator MindChamps posted a strong debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Friday (Nov 24), with its shares closing 10.8 per cent higher at S$0.92 each.

The shares opened at S$0.84 - or 1.2 per cent higher than the initial public offering price - and continued to rise throughout the day. The counter was among the top 20 actively traded stocks on the SGX, with about 21.7 million shares changing hands.

MindChamps is the largest operator and franchisor of premium range preschool centres in Singapore. It is the first pre-school operator here to be public-listed. Incorporated in July 2008, the company has a market capitalisation of more than S$200 million. Its group chief executive officer David Chiem said the company had started preparations to list on the SGX at least a year ago.

It chose Singapore as a listing venue because its operations are based here. Other factors include the fact that the company has a strong market share in Singapore, which Mr Chiem described as a “gateway” to the world. “It makes perfect sense to launch from Singapore…our vision was from Singapore to the world, you can’t be saying (that) and list (elsewhere),” said Mr Chiem.

Apart from focusing on the Singapore market, the company also has plans to further expand in China and Australia, he added.

It has a total of 54 centres with operations in Singapore, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.

The company has four centres in Australia, and has plans to recruit franchisees as well as acquire other centres. For the China market, MindChamps and its partners plans to acquire existing schools and rebrand them under its name.

It plans to expand quickly in Beijing, and set up schools in areas that may lack pre-school education facilities such as Szechuan. “Whatever we do in Singapore, we will be duplicating it globally,” Mr Chiem said.

In Singapore, the company is focusing on areas such as pre-school education - including Chinese-centric centres - and infant care centres.

MindChamps launched its first Chinese-centric pre-schools last year, and its infant care centres recently.

The Singapore government has announced plans to add 40,000 new pre-school places in the next five years. With the increase, the total number of pre-school places will go up to 200,000. Mr Chiem said he welcomed the move, and played down any potential impact on his business. He noted that MindChamps has positioned itself as offering premium pre-school education. “We definitely don’t see it that way…it doesn’t compete with us,” he said.

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