Buy or sell a childcare business in Australia

Start by registering your buying criteria — the type of service, your preferred states, budget and timeline. We match qualified, finance-ready buyers with suitable opportunities and connect you with our broker network to complete due diligence. You will also need to hold or obtain approved provider status with the relevant regulatory authority before you can operate an approved service.

Request a free, confidential valuation. We assess your business, agree a realistic price expectation and then approach genuinely qualified buyers under non-disclosure agreements, releasing sensitive detail in stages. You decide if and when staff and families are informed — most owners prefer disclosure only once a sale is well advanced.

Most childcare businesses are valued on a multiple of normalised, maintainable EBITDA — commonly 3.5 to 6 times for single centres — adjusted for the NQS rating, occupancy, lease terms, approved places, staff stability and local competition. The type of service (long day care, family day care, OSHC, kindergarten or flexible care) materially changes how value is assessed.

To operate an approved childcare service you must hold approved provider status with the relevant state or territory regulatory authority, within the national ACECQA system. In a share sale you may acquire the entity that already holds the approval; in an asset sale you generally need your own provider approval and a service transfer.

Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is the federal subsidy that underpins occupancy economics for most centre-based services. Understanding the CCS-funded versus full-fee revenue split, daily fees relative to the hourly rate cap, and CCS compliance history is central to valuing a childcare business and to due diligence.

Allow several months from agreement to settlement. Regulatory provider approval or service transfer, finance, lease assignment and due diligence run in parallel, and the regulator’s timeframe usually sets the critical path. Good preparation on both sides shortens the process considerably.

We are a specialist marketplace and lead service, not a single broker firm. We qualify buyers and sellers and connect them with our network of childcare-experienced brokers and advisers. Registering your buying criteria is free for buyers, and we offer sellers a free confidential valuation to begin the conversation.

The National Quality Framework (NQF), overseen by ACECQA, sets the regulatory and quality standards every approved service operates under. The National Quality Standard (NQS) rating — Exceeding, Meeting or Working Towards — significantly affects value, and a change of provider can trigger a new Assessment and Rating cycle, which is a key consideration in both buying and selling.