Wee Hur plants flag in international schools sector with Wycombe Abbey project in Hougang

[SINGAPORE] Property group Wee Hur is gearing up for “a year of execution” as it builds a pipeline of new projects, starting with the Wycombe Abbey School (Singapore) in Hougang Avenue 3. 

At the ground-breaking ceremony for the school on Tuesday (Jan 6), chief investment officer Goh Wee Ping said the project marked a significant milestone for the group, after more than 20 years in the education-related space. 

In 2004, Wee Hur built key amenities such as swimming pools, a sports field and basement halls for United World College at Dover Road. In 2022, the group erected a new 11-storey block with sports and recreational facilities at Tanglin Trust School. 

Wycombe Abbey School (Singapore) represents its latest step in the space, developed with joint-venture partners Wycombe Abbey and BE Education. The project is part of Wycombe Abbey International Schools’ broader expansion in Asia, with campuses in mainland China and Hong Kong.

William Vanbergen, founder and chairman of BE Education, said the school aims to provide world-class education to thousands of students in Singapore over the coming decades. 

“We want to be welcoming parents from all over the world, helping to attract top talent here to Singapore to help improve the whole economy,” he said.

Wave of projects

The international school is among several projects announced by Wee Hur in 2025. These include the launch of its third fund, the single-asset WHF3A, which was set up for a new purpose-built student accommodation development at Grenfell Street in Adelaide, Australia. 

The fund has a committed capital of A$57 million (S$49 million) – of which at least A$12.6 million is from Wee Hur, as the sponsor; A$21.1 million is from the Goh directors; and up to A$23.3 million is from independent and unrelated investors such as family offices and high-net-worth individuals. 

Many were existing partners or repeat investors familiar with the group’s track record and management team, Goh told The Business Times. 

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This third fund was raised relatively quickly, as much of the groundwork was already complete – the land had been approved for student housing, a builder appointed, and bank financing secured, said Goh, who is also chief executive officer of Wee Hur’s fund management arm, Wee Hur Capital.

This shortened investors’ capital commitment to about two years, compared with closer to four years for earlier-stage developments. 

“We’re quite comfortable with the approach that we have, (where) we warehouse the land, we de-risk it, fundraise, and then we keep rinsing and repeating,” said Goh. “This is a tested and proven flavour.”

For these projects, the group typically targets mid- to high-teens internal rates of return to reflect greenfield risk.

Besides the current slate, he said the group has two other assets in the pipeline and aims to eventually manage four to five assets.

It favours cities such as Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, where Goh said the group has built strong capabilities and will continue to double down. Meanwhile, it is steering clear of Melbourne, citing foreign investor constraints, supply-demand concerns and construction costs. 

Asked whether a listed real estate investment trust (Reit) could be on the cards, Goh said that was not a “fixed goal”, though it could be considered, especially since Wee Hur has gone through a decade-long phase of building capabilities. 

But for a listing to make sense, the group would need the right mix of assets and a sizable portfolio, alongside favourable regulatory and market conditions, including the pricing and returns investors expect from comparable Reits, said Goh. 

On the home front, he said Wee Hur’s recent moves – from developing the Wycombe Abbey school, partnering an Aravest fund to acquire Hotel Miramar for S$160 million, to clinching an Upper Thomson government land sales site – reflect a deliberate strategy to expand its repertoire.

He highlighted that the group intends to broaden its activities, pursuing projects opportunistically, while staying grounded in real estate. 

“If a project is not in our circle of competence… we always have a partner,” he said, citing Wee Hur’s joint venture for Wycombe Abbey School (Singapore) and its partnership with local asset manager Aravest in acquiring Hotel Miramar Singapore, which they will rebrand as a Doubletree Hilton. 

At the same time, the group has clear limits on what it will not do, he said – such as data centres, which require large investments and are dominated by big players, as well as certain geographies such as Vietnam and India.

While it stepped up deployment last year, Goh said: “I will say 2026 is a time for us to slow down, focus on execution, and then start building up more pipeline for next year.

“Some of the seeds that we sowed a few years back are starting to come to fruition. This year will be a little bit of harvesting, all the way to 2027.”