A TOP official of the Philippine Stock Exchange hopes Mynt’s upcoming listing in the local bourse will encourage more fintech and digital-economy firms to go public and raise capital through the stock market.
The public offer period for Mynt, Inc., the parent of e-wallet giant GCash, is set for Oct. 6 to 12 as the fintech company moves closer to what the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) says could be its largest public offering to date.
“This highly anticipated IPO is poised to set the record as the largest public offering in PSE history,” PSE president and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.
Mynt’s shares will be offered at up to P10 each, with the final offer price to be set on Oct. 1 following the book-building exercise. The company is tentatively scheduled to list on the PSE Main Board on Oct. 20 under the trading symbol “GCASH.”
The IPO covers up to 8.03 billion common shares, consisting of as much as 1.61 billion primary shares and 6.42 billion secondary shares. An additional 1.20 billion secondary shares may be offered through an overallotment option.
At the maximum offer price, Mynt could have a post-IPO market capitalization of about P668.96 billion, based on the PSE’s preliminary listing terms.
The scale of the offering is expected to put the spotlight on the ability of Philippine fintech and digital-economy companies to tap the local equities market for funding.
For other fintech companies, Mynt’s IPO could provide a local-market reference point for valuations, investor appetite and the process of transitioning from a privately held technology company to a publicly traded one.
The listing could also broaden participation in the IPO.
PSE said subscriptions will be made available through GStocks in the GCash app, while Local Small Investors may subscribe through the PSE EASy platform. The exchange expects the GCash-based subscription facility to help bring more retail investors into the market.
The offering is a mix of primary and secondary shares. Proceeds from the primary shares will be used for digital financial services growth initiatives, product development and general corporate purposes.
Mynt has been expanding GCash beyond payments into services such as savings, investments, lending and insurance, positioning the company as a broader digital financial-services platform.
The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier approved a reduced minimum public float for Mynt, with the company expected to have a market capitalization of about P668.96 billion after the IPO.
The PSE listing notice puts the estimated public float at 12.06 percent without the overallotment option and as much as 13.86 percent with it.
With the IPO now moving toward its October offer period, Mynt’s debut will provide a closely watched test of investor demand for a large Philippine technology and fintech company. It could also influence how other privately held digital businesses view the local capital market as a source of growth funding. / KOC