SEC clears Mynt stock split in step toward GCash IPO

GLOBE Fintech Innovations, Inc. (Mynt), the operator of GCash, has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its stock split, a development seen as a key step toward its planned initial public offering (IPO).

- By Ashley Erika 0. Jose Reporter

The SEC’s approval allows Mynt to increase its common shares to 71.66 billion, at three centavos each, while keeping its authorized capital stock at P2.15 billion, Globe said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. A stock split increases the number of shares without changing the company’s overall capitalization, effectively making each share more affordable and improving liquidity.

“We think the stock split was done in preparation for the planned IPO of GCash. A stock split is a common practice for firms planning to list publicly,” Unicapital Securities Equity Research Analyst Peter Louise D.C. Garnace said in a Viber message to BusinessWorld.

In June, Ayala Corp. announced that Mynt’s board and shareholders had approved the stock split to raise the number of its common shares ahead of its planned IPO. Mynt is a strategic partnership among Globe, Ayala Corp. and Ant International, a Singapore-headquartered firm engaged in digital payments and financial technology.