GCash debuts on PSE with record P53-B IPO
GCash parent Mynt Inc. debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Tuesday following a P53-billion initial public offering (IPO), the largest in Philippine history, drawing strong demand from local and institutional investors.
Shares opened at their P6.60 offer price under the ticker “GCASH.”
The listing gave Mynt a market capitalization of about P441.5 billion, making it the seventh-largest domestic company on the exchange based on Monday’s closing prices.
The IPO comprised about 8.03 billion firm shares. Its gross offer size could reach P60.9 billion if the overallotment option covering another 1.2 billion secondary common shares is fully exercised.
JP Morgan, a joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner, described the transaction as Southeast Asia’s largest IPO since 2021.
“This is the largest initial public offering in the history of the PSE. It is a record,” PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said. “More importantly, it is a statement of confidence in Mynt, in the Philippine economy, and in the strength of our capital market.”
Strong demand
The institutional tranche was multiple times oversubscribed. JP Morgan said nearly 200 institutional investors across Asia, Europe and the United States were engaged during marketing, with demand coming from global long-only investors, sovereign wealth funds, domestic institutions and multistrategy funds.
Local brokers submitted orders for more than 2.65 billion shares against an allocation of 1.6 billion, Monzon said.
Following its landmark listing, Mynt is earmarking about 60 percent of the roughly P10 billion in fresh capital it raised, or slightly more than P5.5 billion, to expand its digital financial services business, including lending, investments and insurance.
Another 20 percent will fund the rollout of additional products, while the remaining 20 percent will go toward general corporate purposes.
Among GCash’s plans to drive post-IPO growth is the expansion of its lending business through Fuse Financing Inc., which the company sees as a major growth driver over the next five years.
“About 40 percent of Filipinos are still relying on informal lending. This is one of our obsessions; we would like to include these Filipinos and for them to have a fair chance in getting access to lending,” Joseph Samuel Tang, GCash head of capital markets and investor relations, said.
GCash also plans to expand services for overseas Filipino workers, including digital wallets accessible through international mobile numbers, while strengthening its presence among nano, micro and small businesses through merchant services.
GStocks boosts IPO
Retail participation in the historic IPO widened through GStocks PH, the trading platform offered by AB Capital Securities within GCash. Mynt said more than 140,000 users placed nearly P1.1 billion in orders.
Darvin Sy Su, GCash general manager for wealth management, said 8 to 10 percent of these subscribers were customers who had joined GCash only in the days leading up to the IPO.
GCash reported 41.5 million monthly active users in the three-month period that ended on June 30, up from 37 million a year earlier.
Mynt president and CEO Martha Sazon said nearly 90 percent of GCash customers belonged to the low-to-middle-income segment, underscoring the opportunity to reach more underserved Filipinos.
“Becoming a public company is not the finish line,” Sazon said. “The opportunity ahead is about how much more we can make possible for every Filipino.”
Mynt shares ended their first trading day at P6.60 per share, unchanged from their IPO price, after reaching an intraday high of P6.76.
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