Mynt Inc., the company behind GCash, wants to raise up to P92.32 billion by selling as many as 9.23 billion shares at a maximum price of P10 each.
More than 20 local and foreign institutions have already committed, including BlackRock, Fidelity and the International Finance Corp. (IFC), Inquirer reported.
The final price will be set on Oct. 1, the public offer runs Oct. 6–12, and the shares are set to debut on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Oct. 20 under the ticker “GCASH.”
The Offer in Numbers
According to Inquirer:
- Base offer: 8.027 billion shares, made up of 1.61 billion primary shares, or new shares, and 6.42 billion secondary shares sold by existing holders
- Greenshoe option: Up to 1.2 billion more secondary shares
- Maximum price: P10 per share, for up to P92.32 billion in total
Mynt said commitments had effectively covered the entire 70% allocation for qualified institutional buyers.
GMA News, citing Mynt and a preliminary prospectus reported by Reuters, said cornerstone commitments total about P36.5 billion.
Who’s In
Foreign participants include units of BlackRock, Capital Research, Fidelity, HSBC Global Asset Management, IFC, Ninety One, T. Rowe Price and Schroders, Inquirer reported.
GMA News also listed Lazard Asset Management among the cornerstone investors.
Local participants include ATRAM Trust Corp., BPI Asset Management and Trust Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., Metrobank Trust Banking Group, Philequity Management Inc. and RCBC Capital Corp., according to Inquirer.
Eric Jurado, manager of the Southeast Asia Focus Portfolio, said these investors did their own due diligence before committing.
That does not guarantee success, he said, but it suggests professional investors believe the potential returns justify the risks.
“An investment in Mynt is, in part, an investment in the continued digitization of the Philippine economy,” Jurado said, according to Inquirer.
Will It Really Be P10?
Not necessarily.
Some funds were reportedly eyeing a price of about P6.50 per share, Inquirer reported.
PSE president Ramon Monzon clarified earlier that P10 is only the maximum indicative price. He said previous IPOs were typically priced at around 70% to 72% of their maximum.
The final price will depend on demand during book-building.
Retail investors can subscribe through G-Stock investments on the GCash app, according to Inquirer.
GCash’s Reach
GCash has 41.5 million monthly active users, nearly 56% of the country’s adults, Inquirer reported.
Its ecosystem serves 7.5 million active borrowers, 17.9 million savings accounts, 9.2 million investment fund accounts and about 2 million local stock market accounts.
Jurado said that infrastructure and customer base would be difficult and costly for new competitors to copy.
Mynt president and CEO Martha Sazon, speaking at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York on Sept. 23, cited GCash’s reach of more than 11 million borrowers and called for Filipinos to be allowed to “borrow with dignity,” GMA News reported.
She noted that formal borrowing penetration in the country is only 12%, and that about 40% of Filipinos rely on informal financing.
What to Watch
For retail investors, the key date is Oct. 1, when the final price is announced, ahead of the Oct. 6–12 offer window.
The big-name institutional backing shows demand at the top.
Whether the final price lands near P10 or closer to the reported P6.50 will shape how much Mynt actually raises.
