Mynt: P10 was never IPO price

GCash parent Mynt said its P6.60-per-share IPO price was not a markdown from P10, stressing that the higher figure disclosed earlier was only a regulatory ceiling and was never the price it planned to seek from investors.

Mynt Chief Financial Officer Evelyn Ng said the P10 figure was an administrative requirement under the Philippine listing process.

“The P10 was never the price that we expected to list Mynt. It was an administrative up-to offer price that was required as part of the Philippines’ listing application,” Ng said during an investors briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

Mynt eventually set its final IPO price at P6.60 per share, putting the GCash operator on track for what could become the largest public offering in Philippine history.

The IPO covers more than 8 billion shares and is valued at about P53 billion at the final offer price.

Assuming the full exercise of an overallotment option covering up to 1.204 billion secondary common shares, the offering could raise as much as P60.9 billion.

Despite the gap between the P10 maximum disclosed in its initial filing and the final P6.60 price, Mynt and its bankers said investor appetite remains strong, with domestic demand already surpassing levels typically seen in local IPOs.

“On the domestic side we’re very happy,” BDO Capital and Investment Corp. President Ed Francisco said in a separate interview. “The total demand we’re seeing is exceeding historical demand for local IPOs,” he added.

Francisco said the strength of the domestic book also signals growing participation by Filipinos in the investment market. “It’s more a signal that Filipinos are investing,” Francisco said.

For Mynt, going public in Manila is also a deliberate move to give Filipino investors a chance to participate in the growth of the homegrown fintech company.

Mynt President and CEO Martha Sazon said the Philippines was the natural venue for the company’s market debut.

“We are a Filipino homegrown company… run by Filipinos. It’s just right that we list in the Philippines,” Sazon said. “We also want to give back to the country that has made us big.”

Sazon said the IPO also fits into Mynt’s broader financial inclusion push by opening the company to the investing public.

“We want to help the investing public to also grow their wealth. That is part of our mission —financial inclusion and financial progress,” she said.