Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, British school Wellington College to launch Indonesia campus next year

The campus is located in Bumi Serpong Damai, or BSD City, a mixed-use township comprising homes, offices, shops and leisure spaces developed by billionaire Widjaja family’s Sinar Mas Land near the Indonesian capital.

It will start with 350 students in early education before expanding to a larger site in the same township by 2030 and providing a full K-12 curriculum, which covers kindergarten through the 12th grade.

"The region is undergoing rapid economic and demographic shifts, and families are looking for schooling that is academically rigorous, globally connected and grounded in strong values," said Tan Wee Han, CEO of Wellington College Singapore, in a statement cited by Forbes.

Wellington College is a U.K. boarding school known for its strong sports programs, including rugby and hockey. It offers the International Baccalaureate diploma.

Lim partnered with the college in 2022, with his company, WCI Regional Management, signing a master license agreement to establish Wellington College International schools in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, each capable of accommodating up to 2,000 students.

The schools will provide a full curriculum spanning early years, preparatory and senior school programs based on the English National Curriculum, ultimately leading to the IB diploma, according to The Business Times.

An artist's rendition of the Wellington College campus in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo from Wellington College Independent School Jakarta's Facebook

The first campus in the region was initially scheduled to open this year, but Wellington said the launch was delayed due to Covid-19 and other factors, according to Bloomberg.

Wellington College Singapore expects to open a junior school in Singapore in 2028 and a flagship full K-12 school with boarding facilities in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor by 2030.

The partnership marks Lim’s first venture into the education sector. The 71-year-old self-made billionaire had previously amassed his fortune as a stockbroker in the 1980s, earning the moniker of the "remisier king" of Singapore, before turning to private investment.

He was ranked Singapore’s 32nd richest billionaire by Forbes in September, with an estimated fortune of $1.8 billion. He is also the owner of Spanish football club Valencia.

Lim has recently been investing in Johor. In September, his Thomson Medical Group launched the Johor Bay project, a 26-acre (10.52-hectare) development within the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. Billed as one of Southeast Asia’s largest projects of its kind, it will feature a private hospital, luxury residences, a five-star hotel and commercial-lifestyle precincts.

Just days before that, RSP, a design firm owned by Lim, was approached by Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the Regent of Johor and son of Malaysia’s King Ibrahim Iskandar, to design a $200 million royal estate in the state’s coastal town of Desaru.