Mynt raises P60.9 billion in record Philippine Stock Exchange debut

Mynt, the parent of GCash, entered the Philippine Stock Exchange after completing an initial public offering worth P60.9 billion, the largest listing transaction recorded there to that point.¹ That total surpassed the P55.89 billion Monde Nissin Corp. had raised in its 2021 listing, making Mynt’s offering larger by the difference between those two figures.¹ The listing was also the Philippine Stock Exchange’s first initial public offering for the year, according to Nikkei Asia.² Nikkei Asia put the P60.9-billion deal’s equivalent value at $965 million, expressing the same offering in another currency rather than describing a separate fundraising total.²

The shares began trading on the exchange’s Main Board under the symbol GCASH, connecting the company’s market listing with the name used for its ticker.¹ At the start of trading, each share was priced at P6.63, compared with an initial offer price of P6.60.¹ The opening level therefore represented a 0.5% increase over the offer price, a comparison between the first trading price and the price set for the offering.¹ That initial gain was small beside the scale of the overall transaction: the opening-price comparison concerns each share, while P60.9 billion describes the offering as a whole.¹

The offer covered around 8.03 billion common shares, each sold for P6.60, and included both newly issued stock and shares already held by owners.¹ Of that amount, 1.61 billion shares were primary shares, meaning they were issued by Mynt as part of the transaction.¹ The other 6.42 billion were existing shares sold by current owners, so the transaction included stock that did not come from a new issue by the company.¹ These categories describe who supplied the shares, not simply two different prices: the fact provided for both groups is the same P6.60 offer price.¹

Before the overallotment option was used, the base offering raised approximately P53 billion.¹ The total reached P60.9 billion after roughly 1.20 billion additional secondary shares were issued through that option.¹ The base amount and final amount thus refer to different stages of the offering, with the latter including the additional secondary shares.¹ The overallotment shares were secondary stock, in line with the wider division between newly issued shares and existing shares being sold by their owners.¹

That distinction also determines where the proceeds go: money raised by issuing new shares is directed to Mynt, while proceeds from secondary shares belong to the selling shareholders.¹ Mynt set aside 60% of the net proceeds from its primary offering for building and expanding its credit technology operations.¹ The remainder of the capital raised from primary shares is intended for product development and general corporate activities.¹ Those planned uses apply to the primary-share proceeds; they do not describe the money generated by the sale of existing shares, which goes to those shareholders.¹

Before the public offering, cornerstone investors had committed to buy P36.5 billion in shares.¹ The named Philippine participants included ATRAM Trust Corp., BPI Asset Management and Trust Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.’s Trust Banking Group.¹ The domestic group also included Philequity Management, Inc. and RCBC Capital Corp.¹ The P36.5-billion commitment is a figure for cornerstone purchases made before the public offering, while P60.9 billion is the completed offering’s total size.¹

International cornerstone participants included the International Finance Corp., HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd., Amundsen Investment Management, and FIL Investment Management (Hong Kong) Ltd.¹ Funds and accounts managed by BlackRock subsidiaries were also among the international backers.¹ Albizia Capital Pte. Ltd., Amundsen Investment Management, and HSBC Global Asset Management took part in Philippine cornerstone commitments for the first time.¹ Separately, Ninety One North America, Inc. and Ninety One UK Ltd. assumed cornerstone-investor roles in Southeast Asia for the first time.¹

The offering’s scale was marked at the exchange by a bell-ringing event presided over by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.¹ That ceremony accompanied Mynt’s market debut, while the trading details show the shares’ opening price and the small increase over their offer price.¹ The record comparison concerns capital raised in listings: Mynt’s P60.9 billion exceeded the P55.89 billion attributed to Monde Nissin Corp.’s 2021 listing.¹ Together, the total raised, the shares sold, and the allocation of primary and secondary proceeds distinguish the size of the listing from the amount directed to Mynt itself.¹

For Mynt, the stated corporate uses of proceeds focus on credit technology, product development, and general company activities, with 60% of primary-offering net proceeds assigned to the first category.¹ For existing owners who sold shares, the relevant proceeds are theirs rather than funds directed to the company.¹ The completed offering combined primary shares issued by Mynt with secondary shares sold by existing owners, and the proceeds from those two sources went to different recipients.¹ Its position as the year’s first Philippine Stock Exchange IPO and its total above the previous listing record place the debut in both the year’s issuance sequence and the exchange’s fundraising comparison.¹²