Ant Financial, Ayala close Mynt deal

GLOBE Telecom Inc. announced on Wednesday that Ant Financial Ser- gy company of Alibaba’s Jack Ma, had completed the transaction to buy a 45 percent stake in Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), a unit of Globe.

Ayala Corporation also told the bourse on Wednesday that it had acquired a 10 percent stake in Mynt in line with its vision to cap technology space.

The transaction to invest in Mynt had been announced by the relevant parties in February this year.

Mynt, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings (GCVHI) under Globe and Ayala Corp., operates GCash and Fuse Lending.

GCash is a micro- payment service which permits consumers to use their smartphones to pay bills and purchase goods, while Fuse Lending offers personal and business loans to unbanked and underserved Filipinos through mobile technology.

As a one- stop shop of financial technology services, Mynt claims to have over 4 million registered customers and an average weekly transaction value of P1.5 billion.

The deal marks the first investment of Ant Financial in the Philippines. Globe said the merger would allow Ant Financial’s digital financial services, including Alipay, to share with Mynt its systems in using technology to accelerate local the use of financial inclusion.

In its statement, Ayala Corp. said it subscribed to more than 93 million shares of Mynt by way of primary shares of the corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiary AC Ventures Holdings Corp. The amount is less than 10 percent of the conglomerate’s total shareholders’ equity, it said.

“Ayala’s investment in Mynt is in recognition of the strong growth in the country amid a solid consumer market and an increasingly digital environment,” it said.

“The complementary strengths of Ayala, Globe, and Ant Financial present a compelling opportunity services landscape. The partnership will allow Mynt to become payment provider, scale its mobile wallet services, and provide a wider its customers,” it added.

Ayala Corp. is the oldest and one of the largest conglomerates in the country founded by magnate Jaime Zobel de Ayala.