Mynt's $1 Billion IPO Marks Southeast Asia's Biggest Listing This Year

Mynt, which owns the Philippines' most popular digital payments platform, GCash, is set to raise almost $1 billion in Southeast Asia's biggest IPO this year. The IPO will be the Philippines' biggest listing, with trading expected to start on Tuesday. The offering will raise 60.9 billion pesos ($971 million) if Mynt sells all 9.23 billion shares offered, including the overallotment option. Mynt priced the offering at 6.60 pesos a share, valuing the company at about $7 billion. The price was well below Mynt's prospectus guidance of up to 10 pesos a share.

Mynt's shareholders include Ant International, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and the Philippines' Globe Telecom. GCash has about 41 million monthly active users, or a third of the Philippines' population. GCash users widely use the platform to pay bills, transfer funds and pay for purchases from millions of merchants. GCash also offers loans. GCash posted net profit of $282 million last year.

Deloitte data show that Southeast Asia recorded 71 listings in the first nine months of the year, 11% fewer than the same period last year. Deloitte data show that the offerings raised $3.6 billion, down 9% over the same period. However, Deloitte Southeast Asia's Tay Hwee Ling said the region's IPO market was showing renewed momentum, although the recovery remained selective. Tay said the return of larger and more mature IPO candidates signals improving confidence among institutional and international investors. Analysts and bankers said stronger equity markets, improving visibility around interest rate rises and regulatory reforms in some markets have supported regional offerings. Southeast Asian IPO volumes have been muted compared with China and India. However, regional exchanges are showing signs of renewed activity. Deloitte said Malaysia is Southeast Asia's most active market by listing volume, accounting for about two-thirds of regional listings.

Vietnam's government has been pushing to expand capital markets and equity funding to meet ambitious growth targets amid rising borrowing costs. Thuy Anh Nguyen, a director at Vietnam's fund manager Dragon Capital, said Vietnam's government wants to double the stock market's value by 2030. Nguyen said increasing listings could help achieve that goal. Nguyen said the economy needs more funding and cannot rely on bank loans for that funding. Nguyen said FTSE Russell's decision last October to upgrade Vietnam to emerging market status had increased Vietnam's appeal to foreign investors and would bring more listings. Other IPOs raising more than $500 million this year include Singapore's UI Boustead Reit, Malaysia's Sunway Healthcare Holdings and Vietnam's Dien May Xanh.

Jingkai Yew, Citi's Asean head of equity capital markets, said investor appetite for regional offerings had improved this year, encouraging bigger groups to list. Yew described those companies as national champions that continued growing and becoming more profitable during Southeast Asia's quieter IPO years. Yew said the IPO pipeline remained strong in sectors including real estate, healthcare and technology. Yew said momentum was set to continue next year.

Investors have suffered losses from other regional technology listings. Ride-hailing and delivery companies Grab and GoTo raised billions of dollars in IPOs about five years ago. Both companies' share prices have since slumped because of intense competition and increasing regulatory scrutiny. Grab and GoTo were lossmaking when the companies listed, unlike GCash.

Yew Kiang Chan, EY's Asean IPO leader, said GCash's IPO could prompt other Asian financial technology companies to go public. Chan said GCash represents an opportunity in a very new industry and would provide a useful measure of investor interest. Chan predicted a flurry of good payment service companies seeking IPOs.