Mynt prices $971m IPO in 2026’s biggest Southeast Asia debut

Mynt, owner of GCash, priced a Philippine IPO that could raise 60.9 billion pesos ($971 million), with trading expected Tuesday, the Financial Times reported Oct. 18.

The deal would be Southeast Asia’s largest debut in 2026, while Deloitte data cited by the FT showed regional IPO proceeds fell 9% to $3.6 billion in the first nine months.

An IPO, or initial public offering, is a company’s first sale of shares to public-market investors. Mynt set the offer at 6.60 pesos a share, giving the company a valuation of about $7 billion.

That price was below the “up to 10 pesos” per share level Mynt had indicated in its prospectus. The offer covers as many as 9.23 billion shares, including the overallotment option, a standard arrangement that lets banks sell extra shares if demand supports it.

GCash has about 41 million monthly active users, equal to roughly one-third of the Philippines’ population. The digital wallet is used for bill payments, money transfers, merchant purchases and loans.

The regional IPO market is “showing renewed momentum, although the recovery remains selective”, Tay Hwee Ling of Deloitte Southeast Asia said, according to the FT. Tay said the return of larger, more mature companies pointed to stronger interest from institutional and international investors.

Mynt’s shareholders include Ant International, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Globe Telecom of the Philippines. If all shares are sold, including the overallotment option, the offering would reach 60.9 billion pesos.

Deloitte figures showed 71 listings in Southeast Asia in the first nine months, down 11% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts and bankers cited stronger equity markets, clearer expectations on interest rates and regulatory changes in some markets as support for new issuance.

Malaysia accounted for about two-thirds of Southeast Asian listings by volume. In Vietnam, the government wants to double the value of its stock market by 2030, Thuy Anh Nguyen, a director at Dragon Capital, told the FT.

“It’s clear that the economy needs more funding and it cannot rely on bank loans to do that,” Nguyen said. She said FTSE Russell’s October decision to upgrade Vietnam to emerging-market status, a classification followed by global equity investors, had helped attract foreign interest and could support more listings.

Other regional 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 demand for Southeast Asian offerings had improved this year. “These are companies that are national champions. Over the quiet years in south-east Asia, these companies have continued to grow, becoming more and more profitable,” Yew said.

Investors still have reasons for caution. Grab and GoTo raised billions of dollars in IPOs about five years ago, but their shares later fell as competition intensified and regulators increased scrutiny.

GCash differs from those earlier technology listings in one measure cited by the FT: it posted net profit of $282 million last year, while Grab and GoTo were lossmaking at listing. Yew Kiang Chan, EY’s Asean IPO leader, said GCash would be a barometer for other payments companies considering public offerings.

Trading and market targets

The first check is Tuesday’s start of trading in Mynt shares, when investors will test whether the 6.60-peso offer price leaves room for secondary-market demand.

A longer-dated benchmark is Vietnam’s 2030 target to double the value of its stock market, with additional listings one route identified by Dragon Capital’s Nguyen to expand equity funding.

Source: Financial Times report, Oct. 18.