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How to invest in an IPO in the Philippines, including the GCash IPO

What an IPO is, how IPOs have really performed, how to join one on the PSE and what to know about Mynt (GCash).

PlanWealth.ph is for education, not personalized financial advice.

What is an IPO?

An IPO, or initial public offering, is the first time a private company sells its shares to the public. After the IPO, the shares are listed on a stock exchange, like the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), and anyone with a broker account can buy and sell them.

Before an IPO, a company is owned by its founders, early investors and big parent companies. The IPO opens the door to everyone else. In return, the company (or its existing owners) gets cash.

Why do companies do an IPO?

Companies do an IPO for two main reasons: to raise money to grow, and to let early owners sell some of their shares. Knowing which one is bigger tells you a lot about the deal.

  • Primary shares are new shares. The money goes to the company, to build things, hire people or pay debt.
  • Secondary shares are existing shares sold by current owners. The money goes to those owners, not to the company.

A big secondary portion isn't automatically bad. Early investors often sell some shares after years of waiting. But it's worth asking why the people who know the company best are selling, and at what price.

Why do people invest in IPOs?

People invest in IPOs for a chance to own a well-known company early, at a price set before trading starts. Three things usually draw people in:

  • A brand they know. It feels good to own a piece of an app you use every day.
  • The "first-day pop." Some IPOs jump on their first trading day, and people hope to catch that.
  • Long-term growth. Some companies keep growing for years after listing.

The catch: the excitement around a famous IPO is already built into the price. A great company and a great investment are not the same thing. What you pay matters.

How have IPOs performed in the past?

IPOs have a mixed record. On average they rise on day one, but over the following years most of them trail the overall market, and many lose money. Here is what the data shows.

US IPOs: big first days, weaker years after

Professor Jay Ritter of the University of Florida tracks almost every US IPO since 1975, over 9,000 companies in all (University of Florida, 2026):

  • First day: the average US IPO from 1980 to 2024 closed 18.9% above its offer price on its first trading day. That pop mostly goes to people who got shares at the offer price, usually big institutions.
  • Three years later: if you bought at the first-day closing price, the average IPO trailed the overall US market by about 20 percentage points over the next three years.
  • Most lost money: of 9,195 IPOs from 1975 to 2021, about 60% were below their first-day closing price three years later, and about 38% had lost more than half. The median IPO was down about 26%.
  • A few huge winners pull the average up. Fewer than 2% of IPOs rose more than 500% in three years. Those rare winners are why IPOs feel exciting, and also why picking one is hard.

Two famous examples show how even big names can stumble. Facebook listed in 2012 at $38 a share, and by August that year it had fallen to $19.87, about half its IPO price, before recovering in later years (CNN Money, 2012). Uber listed in 2019 at $45 and fell 7.6% on its first day (CNN, 2019).

Philippine IPOs: recent big ones have opened flat

  • First-day pops used to be bigger. A study of PSE listings from 1987 to 1997 found IPOs rose an average of 22.69% on their first trading day (Philippine Review of Economics, 1998).
  • Recent big IPOs opened flat. Monde Nissin raised ₱48.6 billion in 2021, the biggest Philippine IPO until now, at ₱13.50 a share, and ended its first day flat (The Asset, 2021). Maynilad listed in November 2025 at ₱15 and closed its first day at ₱14.98 (Philstar, 2025).
  • Final prices often come in lower than the "up to" price. According to the PSE, IPO prices over the past three years settled at an average of 28.3% below the maximum price shown in the company's filing. Maynilad's filing said up to ₱20 a share; it priced at ₱15 (Philstar, 2026).

How do I invest in an IPO in the Philippines?

To join a Philippine IPO, you need a stock broker account or a PSE EASy account, then you subscribe and pay during the offer period. Here are the steps.

  1. Open an account before the offer period. Use an online stock broker, or register with PSE EASy, the PSE's site for local small investors. Account approval can take days, so don't wait for the offer week.
  2. Read the prospectus. It's on the SEC website, PSE Edge and usually the company's own investor relations page. Look for what the company does, how it makes money, whether it's profitable, how much is primary versus secondary, and the "risk factors" section.
  3. Subscribe during the offer period. Choose how many shares you want, in multiples of the board lot (the minimum number of shares per order). Your broker or app shows the minimum. You pay the full amount upfront.
  4. Wait for allocation. Popular IPOs are often oversubscribed, so you may get all, some or none of the shares you asked for. Money for shares you didn't get is refunded.
  5. See your shares on listing day. From then on, you can hold or sell them like any other stock.

Local Small Investors (LSI): PSE rules set aside at least 10% of every IPO for local small investors: people who subscribe for at least one board lot and up to ₱100,000. The PSE can raise that cap for a big IPO (for Mynt it's ₱999,900), so check each offer's terms. You can apply online through PSE EASy (PSE LSI rule, 2022).

Costs to know: when you sell, you pay your broker's commission, small exchange fees and a 0.1% stock transaction tax. The tax was cut from 0.6% in July 2025 under the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (Grant Thornton Philippines). Commission rates vary, so check your broker's fee page.

Can Filipinos invest in US IPOs?

Usually not at the IPO price. In the US, shares at the offer price mostly go to large institutions and to customers of certain US brokers, and those programs are generally for US residents.

What Filipinos can do is buy a US IPO stock after it starts trading, through an international broker or a local broker with US market access. At that point you pay the market price, not the IPO price, which is exactly the situation where the data above shows the weakest results. Waiting for the hype to settle is one way people deal with that.

What do I need to know about the Mynt (GCash) IPO?

Mynt Inc., the company behind GCash, is set to be the biggest IPO in Philippine history. The facts below come from Mynt's final prospectus, dated October 1, 2026 (Mynt prospectus), and the PSE's official notice on the offer (PSE Edge, Sept 23, 2026).

  • Ticker: GCASH, on the PSE Main Board.
  • Offer price: ₱6.60 a share. The PSE notice set a maximum of ₱10, so the final price is 34% below it.
  • Offer period: 9 a.m. on October 6 to 12 noon on October 12, 2026. Tentative listing date: October 20, 2026.
  • Minimum order: 1,000 shares (₱6,600), then in multiples of 100 shares (₱660).
  • Small investors (LSI): apply online through PSE EASy for 1,000 to 151,500 shares, or ₱6,600 to ₱999,900. The PSE raised the usual ₱100,000 cap for this offer. You must name a PSE broker in PSE EASy where your shares will be kept.
  • Shares for small investors: 10% of the base offer is set aside for LSIs, rising to 15% if LSI orders reach five times that amount. Another 20% goes to PSE brokers for their clients. The prospectus says you can also apply through GStocks PH in the GCash app.
  • Size: about ₱53.0 billion at ₱6.60, or about ₱60.9 billion if the extra (overallotment) shares are sold.
  • Who gets the money: about ₱10.6 billion from new shares goes to Mynt, for digital financial services growth, product development and general corporate purposes. About ₱42.4 billion from existing shares goes to the owners selling them. So roughly 80% of the base offer goes to selling shareholders, not to GCash.
  • Who is selling: Advanced New Technologies (Singapore), ASP Philippines, Lion Fintech Investments, Insight PHP Holdings, three LGVP funds and some individual shareholders.
  • Who is staying: Globe, Ant International and AM 50 Ventures (part of the Ayala group) are not selling. Their 44.6 billion shares are locked up for 180 days after listing, so they can't sell during that time. When a lock-up ends, more shares can hit the market, which is what happened to Facebook in 2012.
  • How much of the company is public: only about 12% to 14% of all shares will trade on the PSE.
  • Dividends: Mynt has no fixed dividend policy, so there's no promise of regular payouts. It paid ₱5.0 billion in dividends in June 2026 to its shareholders before the IPO.

What questions should I ask before joining the GCash IPO?

  • Do I understand how GCash makes money? Most revenue comes from payments, and a growing part from lending products like GLoan, GGives and GCredit. Loans can earn more, but carry the risk that borrowers don't pay.
  • Is it still growing? In 2025, Mynt's adjusted revenues were ₱79.7 billion (up from ₱54.1 billion in 2024) and net income was ₱17.25 billion (up from ₱11.13 billion). In the first half of 2026, revenues grew 9.8% to ₱43.0 billion and net income grew 7.3% to ₱10.82 billion. GCash had 41.5 million monthly active users in the second quarter of 2026 (Mynt prospectus). It's still growing, but more slowly than before.
  • What am I paying for the profit? Up to 66.9 billion shares will be outstanding after the IPO. At ₱6.60, that values the company at roughly ₱440 billion, or about 26 times its 2025 profit (our math). Compare that with other companies you know, and ask whether the growth can justify it.
  • What am I paying compared with what the company owns? After the IPO, Mynt's net tangible assets work out to about ₱1.24 a share. At ₱6.60, you pay ₱5.36 a share more than that (Mynt prospectus). That's normal for a fast-growing tech company, but it means the price depends on future profits, not on what the company owns today.
  • What risks does the company list? The prospectus "Risk Factors" section includes heavy regulation and the need to keep its licenses, intense competition from banks and fintechs, credit risk in its lending business, platform outages and cyberattacks, and the fact that part of its payments revenue comes from transactions with licensed online gaming sites (Mynt prospectus).
  • Can I hold it if it falls? Recent big Philippine IPOs opened flat. Only put in money you won't need for at least five years.
  • Is my foundation ready? An emergency fund and paying off high-interest debt come first. A credit card at 3% a month costs you more than most investments return.

What are the ways to invest in a company like GCash?

There's more than one way to get exposure to a newly listed company. Here they are, ranked from safest to riskiest.

  1. 1

    A PSEi index fund or ETF

    Good for
    Beginners who want to own many big Philippine companies at once. Large new listings can be added to the index later.
    Watch out
    You don't own the new company on day one, and the whole market can still fall.
    Fees
    A yearly management fee; check the fund's fact sheet. ETFs also have broker commissions.
  2. 2

    Buy after listing, once the hype settles

    Good for
    People who want the specific company but prefer to watch a few quarterly reports first.
    Watch out
    The price can be higher than the IPO price by then. One company is riskier than a fund.
    Fees
    Broker commission and exchange fees when buying and selling; 0.1% stock transaction tax when selling.
  3. 3

    Subscribe at the IPO price and hold

    Good for
    People who have read the prospectus, believe in the business and can hold for years.
    Watch out
    You may get fewer shares than you asked for, and recent big PH IPOs have opened flat.
    Fees
    The offer price at subscription; selling fees and 0.1% stock transaction tax later.
  4. 4

    Subscribe to flip on day one

    Good for
    Very few beginners. It's a short-term bet on a first-day pop.
    Watch out
    Monde Nissin and Maynilad both ended their first day flat or slightly below their IPO price.
    Fees
    Selling fees and tax can eat most of a small gain.

What mistakes should beginners avoid with IPOs?

  • Investing money you need soon. IPO prices can swing a lot in the first months. Keep your emergency fund separate.
  • Borrowing to buy. Using a credit card, GLoan or any loan to buy IPO shares means you can lose money you don't have.
  • Buying because everyone is talking about it. Hype tends to push the first-day price up, and in the US data, buying at the first-day price is where IPOs did worst over three years.
  • Putting everything in one stock. If one company makes up most of your savings, one bad year can set you back a long way.
  • Skipping the prospectus. You don't need to read all of it. The business overview, financial summary, use of proceeds and risk factors take an evening.

What should I do this week?

Check your foundation first with the before you invest checklist: do you have at least three months of expenses saved, and is your high-interest debt under control? If not, start there with the free 90-Day Money Reset Google Sheet. If you're ready to invest, take the risk appetite quiz to see how much ups and downs you can handle before you put a peso into any IPO.

Where do these numbers come from?

IPO research

Philippine IPOs and rules

US examples

Mynt (GCash) IPO