Daily Briefing: Hyflux assures investors of its commitment to ‘fair' restructuring plan; GBCI kicks off $135.25m smart city development fund

And newly-opened incubator Design Orchard features emerging local brands.

From Channel News Asia:

Hyflux declared that it stays ‘committed’ to proposing a “fair” restructuring plan by February amidst growing concerns from investors on how much money they can recover.

The offers it received ranged from a total investment of $400m to $600m, with equity portions varying from $250m to $530m in exchange of equity stakes ranging from about 51% to 86.4%.

“When assessing the offers presented, Hyflux considered the conditions associated with each of the offers as well as other factors such as the ability to complete and to do so within a short period of time, given the current liquidity crunch,” the company said.

Read more here.

From e27:

Singapore-based GBCI Ventures (GBCI) launched its $135.25m (US$100m) smart city development fund which will focus on startups with a variation of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, big data, IoT and virtual reality (VR).

GBCI will take an active role to provide these startups with know-how, access to technology, financial investment, mentorship, and go-to-market support. What differentiates this fund, the company claimed, is the formation of mutually beneficial strategic alliances through mergers and acquisitions and the development of a smart metropolis for the future.

“The dawn of smart city evolution brings economic progress and people are able to enjoy a higher quality of life and better urban services in the ecosystem. This is our vision, especially for companies that can contribute to the development and building of sustainable smart cities for future generations,” said Douglas Gan, CEO and Co-founder of GBCI.

Read more here.

From Channel News Asia:

Local design showcase and incubator Design Orchard launched on 25 January, featuring 61 homegrown labels that are part of a mentorship programme run by local retailer Naiise.

Out of all, 11 are new or emerging labels that are less than two years old, while 47 are labels that are two to 10 years old. The remaining three are established brands that have been around for more than 10 years.

Located opposite The Heeren, Design Orchard is a two-storey development with a 9,000 sq ft retail space on the first floor.

Read more here. 

Photo from Design Orchard.