The Ayebot Buyer Index
Who are the potential acquirers for Singapore and Southeast Asian companies? Mostly trade buyers. Ayebot's register maps 2,524 potential acquirers: 1,697 trade buyers and 414 private equity firms, with family offices and other investors making up the rest; 349 are listed companies. In all but one of 12 sectors, trade buyers covering Singapore outnumber private equity firms.
Figures as at 23 October 2026. Counts only: Ayebot never publishes buyer names, client names or figures from live sales.
Key findings
- Trade buyers lead the register: 1,697 trade buyers against 414 private equity firms.
- Trade buyers dominate. In every sector but one, trade buyers covering Singapore outnumber private equity firms. Building services: 194 trade buyers to 12 private equity. Food and beverage: 68 to 5.
- Healthcare is the closest contest where trade buyers lead: 88 trade buyers, 70 private equity.
- Education is the exception, the one sector where private equity leads: 8 to 7.
Acquirers covering Singapore, by sector
| Sector | Acquirers | Trade buyers | Private equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial & engineering | 238 | 184 | 43 |
| Building services & infrastructure | 222 | 194 | 12 |
| Healthcare & medical | 208 | 88 | 70 |
| Consumer brands & retail | 190 | 82 | 60 |
| Technology & software | 147 | 83 | 36 |
| Logistics & supply chain | 88 | 73 | 8 |
| Food & beverage | 81 | 68 | 5 |
| Beauty, aesthetics & wellness | 69 | 49 | 1 |
| Energy & environment | 67 | 55 | 3 |
| Financial services | 49 | 27 | 18 |
| Business & professional services | 39 | 27 | 11 |
| Education | 24 | 7 | 8 |
A buyer can appear in more than one sector. Trade buyers and private equity do not add up to the total: family offices, other investors and buyers not yet classified make up the rest. Markets covered: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines. Sector by market: who buys companies, by sector.
Cite this data
Ayebot Buyer Index, Aye Bot Pte. Ltd., figures as at 23 October 2026. https://ayebot.com/buyer-index. Free to cite with attribution.
Machine-readable: ayebot.com/data/buyer-index.json. Monthly snapshots of the sector and market counts, published under CC BY 4.0: github.com/gweeyichen/ayebot-buyer-index.
Press and data questions: Gwee Yi Chen, founder of Aye Bot, yichen@gacapital.com.sg.
How we count
- Source: Ayebot's buyer register, de-duplicated on normalised company names.
- Sector and market: a buyer is counted when its stated target sectors include the sector and its stated geographies name the market or carry a region-wide or global mandate.
- Buyer type: from the category recorded for each buyer; private equity-backed operating companies are counted as trade buyers.
- Headquarters (approximate): where a buyer's headquarters can be identified (1,511 of 2,524), most are outside Singapore. Headquarters fields are approximate, so they are not published as figures here or in the open snapshots.
Ayebot is the AI-powered business broker for Southeast Asia: see what an AI business broker does, or count the buyers for your own company.