Listings in south-east Asia gain momentum with $1bn IPO

{"text":[[{"start":11.9,"text":"South-east Asia is set to notch up its biggest IPO this year when the owner of the Philippines’ most popular digital payments platform goes public."}],[{"start":20.6,"text":"Mynt, which owns Filipino digital wallet GCash, will raise almost $1bn in the Philippines’ biggest listing, boosting the region’s muted capital markets. Trading is expected to start on Tuesday."}],[{"start":33.150000000000006,"text":"GCash has about 41mn monthly active users, or a third of the country’s population. The platform is used widely to pay bills, transfer funds and pay for purchases from millions of merchants, as well as offering loans. "}],[{"start":47.00000000000001,"text":"Mynt, whose shareholders include Ant International, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and the Philippines’ Globe Telecom, priced its offering at 6.60 pesos a share, valuing the company at about $7bn. "}],[{"start":61.35000000000001,"text":"That was well below the guidance of “up to 10 pesos” per share that Mynt had indicated in its prospectus."}],[{"start":67.95,"text":"The IPO is set to raise 60.9bn pesos ($971mn) if the company sells all 9.23bn shares on offer, including the overallotment option."}],[{"start":81.10000000000001,"text":"There were 71 listings in south-east Asia in the first nine months of the year — 11 per cent fewer than the same period last year, according to Deloitte data. The offers raised a total of $3.6bn, down 9 per cent."}],[{"start":95.45,"text":"However, the region’s IPO market was “showing renewed momentum, although the recovery remains selective”, said Tay Hwee Ling of Deloitte Southeast Asia. "}],[{"start":104.60000000000001,"text":"The return of larger and more mature IPO candidates “signals improving confidence among institutional and international investors”, Tay added."}],[{"start":113.05000000000001,"text":"Stronger equity market performance, improving visibility around interest rate rises and regulatory reforms in some markets have supported offerings across the region, according to analysts and bankers."}],[{"start":124.60000000000001,"text":"South-east Asian IPO volumes have been muted compared with markets in China and India, but there are signs that bourses in the region are coming back to life."}],[{"start":134.05,"text":"Malaysia is the most active south-east Asian market by volume, accounting for about two-thirds of all listings across the region, according to Deloitte. "}],[{"start":142.65,"text":"In Vietnam the government has been pushing to expand the role of capital markets and equity funding as a way to meet ambitious growth targets at a time of rising borrowing costs. "}],[{"start":153.45000000000002,"text":"The Vietnamese government wants to double the value of its stock market by 2030, said Thuy Anh Nguyen, a director at Vietnamese fund manager Dragon Capital. "}],[{"start":164.4,"text":"Increasing the number of listings is one way to help achieve that goal, she added. “It’s clear that the economy needs more funding and it cannot rely on bank loans to do that.”"}],[{"start":173.6,"text":"FTSE Russell’s decision last October to upgrade Vietnam to emerging market status had helped bolster the country’s appeal to foreign investors and would bring about more listings, Nguyen said."}],[{"start":185.7,"text":"Other IPOs that have raised more than $500mn this year include Singapore’s UI Boustead Reit, Malaysia’s Sunway Healthcare Holdings and Vietnam’s Dien May Xanh."}],[{"start":197.25,"text":"Jingkai Yew, Citi’s Asean head of equity capital markets, said investor appetite for offerings in the region had improved this year, encouraging bigger groups to come to market."}],[{"start":207.9,"text":"“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."}],[{"start":219.1,"text":"The IPO pipeline remained “strong” for sectors including real estate, healthcare and tech, he said, with momentum set to be maintained next year."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":228.45,"text":"Investors have been burned by other tech listings in the region. Ride-hailing and delivery service companies Grab and GoTo raised billions of dollars in their IPOs about five years ago, but both their share prices have since slumped due to intense competition and increasing regulatory scrutiny."}],[{"start":247.04999999999998,"text":"While Grab and GoTo were lossmaking businesses when they listed, GCash posted net profit of $282mn last year. "}],[{"start":254.99999999999997,"text":"Its IPO could prompt other Asian fintech companies to go public, said Yew Kiang Chan, EY’s Asean IPO leader. “GCash represents an opportunity in a very new industry. It will serve as a good barometer . . . we will begin to see a flurry of good payment service companies seeking an IPO.”"}],[{"start":281.4,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792290330_8437.mp3"}