GCash IPO targets $1.5bn in record Philippine listing

Up to 92.3 billion pesos ($1.5 billion) is at stake in Mynt’s planned Philippine initial public offering, a transaction that Bloomberg said could become the country’s biggest ever listing. The GCash owner is offering as many as 9.23 billion shares, including an over-allotment option, at up to 10 pesos each. At the maximum price, 13.8 per cent of the company would move into public hands. Near the top of the range, a profitable mobile-payments platform would be asking public markets to reopen the Southeast Asian fintech window, rather than merely fund another domestic flotation.

Coming after a thin stretch for large regional tech offerings, the listing gives the market a live test of how quickly Asian issuance windows can shut. A record-sized Philippine IPO would give local bankers a fresh benchmark for valuation and liquidity. Investors would also have to decide whether digital-payments infrastructure is attractive enough to absorb a deal that carries both size and symbolism. For private companies waiting behind Mynt, a strong sale would set a clearer price for profitable growth.

Offer mechanics make the book-building delicate. Reuters said the base offer includes 8.03 billion shares, with another 1.20 billion shares available if demand is strong, while local coverage of the term sheet said the sale package is dominated by stock from existing holders. Buyers tend to accept primary capital for expansion more readily than paper that lets early investors reduce exposure. Even a fast-growing wallet business needs a clean valuation story when so much stock is being placed at once.

Scale gives Mynt more than a concept-stock pitch. Reuters said GCash ended 2025 with 39.1 million monthly active users and 17 trillion pesos of payment transaction value, while Mynt reported 79.8 billion pesos of revenue and 17.2 billion pesos of net income. Those are rare public-market numbers for a regional fintech float. Bankers can sell earnings and transaction value, not only user growth, if volatility elsewhere keeps generalist funds selective.

Demand still has to prove itself. Jarrod Leighton Tin of DragonFi Securities said the planned size alone could strain a market that does not often absorb multi-billion-dollar-equivalent equity paper.

“The ambition is notable, and I’m not convinced the market can absorb this much liquidity.”

Source: Jarrod Leighton Tin, DragonFi Securities

Tin added that Mynt could still revise the pricing lower if demand proves soft. His warning goes to timing as much as valuation: the company may be profitable, but investor appetite still depends on how much cash domestic funds and foreign institutions are willing to rotate into a single name.

What investors will watch

Equity buyers in Manila first have to decide whether a national payments champion merits a record deal size. International accounts face a different question: whether Mynt trades as a local champion or as a broader Southeast Asian fintech proxy. Morgan Stanley’s role as a joint global coordinator gives the transaction some international ballast, but bank branding only goes so far if secondary stock dominates the sale and investors decide that liquidity deserves a steeper discount.

A pricing near the top of the range would travel beyond Manila. It would show that public investors are still willing to back scale fintech in Southeast Asia when the business arrives with earnings, not just growth claims. A weak book would reinforce a harsher lesson from the region’s recent issuance drought: even category leaders can struggle to extract premium valuations if the market reads a deal as too large, too early or too seller-friendly. For that reason, this float looks bigger than a local milestone. It is also a referendum on the reopening price for regional tech equity.

Regulatory approvals and market conditions still stand between Mynt and the listing, according to Reuters, and the company has stayed close to public disclosures. A representative told The Star’s follow-up coverage, “Beyond publicly disclosed information, as a matter of policy, we do not comment on market speculation.” That is standard pre-listing discipline. The harder question will be answered in the bookbuild: whether investors treat GCash’s scale and profits as enough reason to absorb a 92.3 billion peso deal in a market that has not had to digest many offerings of this size.