Daily Briefing: Indian ride-hailing firm Jugnoo eyes Singapore expansion; GIC sells Phoenix hotel to Blackstone for US$403m

And here's how Singapore fares in terms of "hiring" robot workers.

From Reuters:

Indian ride-hailing firm Jugnoo plans to enter the Singapore market next month, its chief executive said on Wednesday. This move follows the exit of Uber Technologies from Singapore after it sold its Southeast Asian operations to Grab.

"Uber’s app will continue to operate in Singapore until May 7, although the US company has shut down in the rest of Southeast Asia after selling its regional operations to local competitor Grab.

Jugnoo and other ride-hailing companies are looking to fill the gap left by Uber, which analysts say may help ease regulatory concerns about the sale to Grab.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) outlined this month a set of measures to ensure an open market while the watchdog examined their merger."

Read more here.

From Forbes:

Data from the International Federation of Robotics showed that Singapore has the second highest level of density of robot workers around the world, just behind South Korea.

"In 2016, South Korea had 631 industrial robots per 10,000 employees and that's primarily due to the continued installation of high volume robots in the electronics and manufacturing sectors. Singapore comes second with 488 robots per 10,000 employees, 90 percent of which are installed in its electronics industry.

In Germany and Japan, two countries renowned for their automotive industries, the robot density is just over 300 per 10,000 workers. Japan is actually the world's predominant manufacturer of industrial robots, accounting for 52% of global supply."

Read more here.

From Deal Street Asia:

According to a report by AZCentral, GIC sold The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, the 89-year-old iconic resort in Phoenix that served nearly all US presidents, for US$403.4m. GIC acquired the hotel in 2013.

"The 740-room Biltmore, which was bought by GIC through its subsidiary ABR Properties LLC, was reportedly sold to New York-based Blackstone Real Estate Advisors last week, marking the biggest individual resort sales in Phoenix since 2015.

Biltmore was among three major US resorts that GIC scooped up by way of approval by the US Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York, according to records. The amount that GIC paid to acquire the resort in 2013 was not disclosed. The resort hosted every US president since Herbert Hoover until Barack Obama broke the streak."

Read more here.

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