(Reuters) – Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp is selling half of its stake in Mynt, the fintech unicorn which operates e-wallet brand GCash, to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp for a minimum of 18.4 billion pesos ($318.89 million), it said on Friday.
The Japanese conglomerate will acquire the stake by buying 50% of Ayala-owned AC Ventures, the Philippine group said in a statement. Ayala owns a 13% stake in Mynt via AC Ventures.
Mynt, a joint venture of Alibaba affiliate Ant Group, Ayala and communications firm Globe Telecom, has two fintech companies: G-Xchange, the operator of GCash, and Fuse Lending, a tech-based micro-lender.
It was valued $5 billion in a funding round in August that included Mitsubishi UFJ Financial.
“We believe Mitsubishi can add meaningful value to Mynt, which will allow Mynt to deliver significant value to its over 94 million registered users,” Ayala President and CEO Cezar Consing said.
Last week, Mynt President and CEO Martha Sazon said Mynt had no definite plans for an initial public offering and that its focus was to grow its business including GCash.
The Philippines is one of the fastest growing fintech markets in Southeast Asia, with a surge in adoption of digital services during the pandemic.
($1 = 57.7000 Philippine pesos)
(Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
