Daily Briefing: Singapore to bear costs of US-North Korea summit; SIA's India affiliate orders Boeing's Dreamliner

And GIC sells its stake in Vietnamese taxi firm Vinasun.

From Bloomberg Finance:

Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner is poised to win an order from Vistara, the Indian affiliate of Singapore Airlines (SIA), people familiar with the matter said. This will affect competition with Airbus SE’s A330neo.

"Vistara opted for six 787s with an option to buy four more, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Vistara is considering between the 787-9 and the 787-10 version, which could fly non-stop to European destinations such as London, said one of the people. The most expensive model of the Dreamliner has a list price of US$325.8m, making the order from the Indian carrier worth as much as $3.3b, including options."

Read more here.

From Deal Street Asia:

GIC has exited its four-year-old investment in Vietnamese taxi firm Vinasun (VNS) and sold its 7.96% stake in the firm for US$3.3m. This comes at a time when traditional cab operators are struggling given the rise of ride-hailing technology players. 

"At a price of VND13,900 ($0.6) apiece, GIC divested its holdings for VND75b (US$3.3m) at a discount. GIC, one of the first foreign funds to invest in Vinasun, injected VND202b (US$8.8m) to purchase a 7.96% stake in the taxi firm in August 2014. So, GIC suffered a loss of about VND120b (US$5.28m) on its four-year-old investment.

In a recent dispute, Vinasun sued with ride-hailing major Grab claiming the latter’s 'illegal operations' caused its revenues to decline. The local taxi firm reported that its revenue has been declining year after year. It earned VND4.25t (US$187m) in revenue and VND205b (US$89.7m) in net profit in 2017, down 10 and 34 per cent respectively compared to 2016."

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From Reuters:

Singapore is willing to bear the costs of the planned summit between US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, defense minister Ng Eng Hen said.

"Kim’s trip to Singapore, which would be the furthest he would have traveled as leader, poses logistical challenges that are likely to include using Soviet-era aircraft to carry him and his limousine, as well as dozens of security and other staff.

The Washington Post reported earlier that some unresolved logistical issues relating to the summit were who would pay the hotel bills of the leader of the cash-strapped country, whose economy has been squeezed by a series of U.N. and unilateral sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Singapore, a small but wealthy Southeast Asian city-state, is determined to successfully host the summit and is willing to foot at least some of the bill."

Read more here.