Daily Briefing: GIC to invest in ‘target list' of companies amidst volatility; Agritech startup Glife bags $1.6m in seed funding

And Singapore and Malaysia will discuss the new GPS-based instrument approach to Seletar Airport.

From Bloomberg:

The outcome of the US-China trade war may be one of the biggest catalysts for market swings, but GIC Pte isn’t counting on fast trades to ride that volatility. Instead, it’s armed itself with a shopping list -- companies it wants to invest in when those swings push prices to an attractive level.

“We have a target list,” said Lim Chow Kiat, chief executive officer of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, declining to identify the companies. “If the market gives us the opportunity, we will just act accordingly. We don’t make short-term calls.”

Senior US and Chinese officials will schedule two more rounds of face-to-face trade talks in an effort to reach a deal that US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could possibly sign by late May, a person familiar with the plans said.

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From DealStreetAsia:

Glife, a Singapore-based agritech startup has raised $1.6m (US$1.2m) in seed funding from Global Founders Capital and 500 Startups.

The round was also joined by angel investors including Zopim co-founder Royston Tay.

The B2B agritech firm connects farmers from Southeast Asia with local food and beverage (F&B) businesses. It likens itself to Meicai, a Chinese app that allows customers to order vegetables directly from the farms. The Chinese firm was recently reported to be worth $7 billion.

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From ChannelNewsAsia:

Aviation regulators from Singapore and Malaysia will be meeting next week to discuss how the new GPS-based instrument approach procedures at Seletar Airport will be implemented, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

Speaking at a press conference held jointly with Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke at Seletar Airport, Mr Khaw said he was confident the new GPS-based approach systems can be "done pretty soon".

Mr Khaw had earlier welcomed Mr Loke, who had flown in on Malaysian airline Firefly’s inaugural flight into Seletar Airport.

The GPS-based procedures will replace the Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedures that Singapore withdrew on Apr 6. The transport ministers had announced on Apr 8 during a bilateral leaders’ retreat in Kuala Lumpur that civil aviation authorities from both countries would work together to develop the procedures.

Read more here.