Daily Briefing: Civil servants set to receive minimum $1,800 year end bonus; 100 SilkAir staff members face uncertainty amidst SIA route reshuffle

And seed investor Cocoon Capital launched its $20m fund targeting fintech and medtech startups.

From Human Resources Online:

Singapore’s civils servants can expect to receive a minimum $1,800 year-end annual variable component (AVC) of one month this year, according to an announcement by the Public Service Division (PSD).

Around 1,380 lower-wage civil servants will benefit from the minimum AVC.

According to the PSD, the AVC amount was decided following consultation with public sector unions and based on the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s (MTI) forecast on Singapore’s economic growth.

The MTI has forecasted that the nation’s economy will grow by 3% to 3.5% in 2018. Further, the labour market continued to improve in the first half of the year and total employment grew, while more job vacancies were open and retrenchments declined.

Read more here.

From Channel News Asia:

About 100 SilkAir staff members will be affected once Singapore Airlines reshuffles routes, with budget airline Scoot taking on 17 of SilkAir's destinations by 2019.

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong had said at the carrier's results briefing in May that the merger was not a "consolidation exercise", and said that no employee would be made "redundant".

"As SilkAir’s integration into SIA is a multi-year programme, SilkAir’s employees will transfer to SIA progressively to support the enlarged SIA regional operation," a Singapore Airlines spokesperson said in response to Channel News Asia's queries.

SilkAir will be working with affected employees for "possible placement opportunities in other SIA stations" and will also work with Scoot, general sales agents and ground handling agents on job options that may be available with them, the spokesperson added.

Read more here.

From Deal Street Asia:

Seed investor Cocoon Capital launched its second $20m fund that aims to target deep tech, fintech and medtech startup niches in Southeast Asia.

Cocoon has already achieved its first close at $11-$13.1 million (S$15-$18 million) and aims to secure its final close by end-2018. Cocoon launched its first fund at $7 million in 2016.

Cocoon Capital said it has increased its LP exposure to Southeast Asia in this fund, with two-thirds of them coming from the region.

The new fund will target seed rounds across 25 to 30 investments, and will adopt a wider market focus to include emerging markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar.

Read more here.