SEC looking forward to GCash IPO

MANILA, Philippines —  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is rooting for a successful initial public offering (IPO) of mobile wallet giant GCash, which has expressed its intent to request from regulators an exemption from the 20-percent public float requirement for IPOs.

“From our end, we’re looking forward to this listing of GCash. At the end of the day we want a successful offer,” SEC commissioner McJill Bryant Fernandez said.

Fernandez said that GCash has yet to discuss with the SEC its planned request for the lowering of the 20-percent public float requirement for IPOs.

“Actually, we have not even conversed, formal or informal, about this. I am aware, well it’s in the news, that they reached out to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). But on the SEC side, formally, we haven’t received any request from GCash,” he said.

Globe Telecom Inc. president and CEO Ernest Cu in a report by Bloomberg said that a potential GCash IPO may take place by the end of 2025, but its timing will partly hinge on the PSE and the SEC agreeing to lower the minimum public float to 10 to 15 percent from the current 20 percent.

“We were very open about requesting our exemptions from the 20-percent float requirement,” Cu was quoted as saying in the Bloomberg report.

Fernandez said that a lowering of the 20-percent requirement would require an exemptive relief application.

“At the end of the day, we have to look at market conditions. We’ll have to check what exactly they are going to propose. We haven’t received any. I am aware that that issue has cropped up. But we have yet to receive any. Definitely, the size of the offer, that will be considered,” he said.

The GCash IPO is among the most anticipated this year, with the company reportedly aiming for at least $8 billion in valuation.

Globe Telecom earlier said that no final decisions have been made regarding the share of sales of Mynt, the parent company of GCash.

It said that GCash is currently evaluating all available options and the timing of any potential actions will be contingent upon market conditions.