Want to buy GCash shares? How retail investors can join the IPO

Guia Abogado/Rappler

Here’s what you need to know about the offer period and what to consider before deciding whether to buy

AT A GLANCE

• Filipinos can invest in GCash through GStocks PH in the GCash app.
• Secondary shares sold by existing shareholders make up 80% of GCash's initial public offering.

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MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos can now buy into GCash before it officially makes its Philippine Stock Exchange debut, with the public offer period starting Tuesday, October 6. 

One of the easiest routes is through GStocks PH inside the GCash app itself. Investors can open Invest, select GStocks PH, then tap the IPO banner. GStocks PH requires an eligible account with enough money in its trading wallet. Opening an account generally requires users to be at least 18 years old, have a Philippine SIM, a fully verified GCash account, and a valid government ID.

The minimum GCash IPO order through GStocks PH is 100 shares, worth P660 at the P6.60 offer price. 

Retail investors can also participate as local small investors through PSE EASy. The PSE said all LSI subscriptions for the Mynt IPO must be submitted through the platform, which requires investors to nominate a PSE trading participant or broker. The usual LSI ceiling is P100,000. Investors with existing brokerage accounts may also check whether their broker is accepting IPO orders.

The offer period runs until noon on Monday, October 12, giving retail investors until then to submit their subscriptions and complete any required payment and documentation.

Regular trading under the ticker GCASH is scheduled to begin on October 20, when allocated IPO shares can start trading on the PSE. 

As always, do your own research

In an investor briefing on Tuesday, GCash’s top executives made their case for why the homegrown e-wallet is a good buy.

Mynt had 41.5 million monthly active users by June, about four times the active users of its nearest competitor. Its adjusted revenue grew at a 54% compound annual growth rate from 2023 to 2025, while net income rose at a 64.4% CAGR over the same period, reaching P17.25 billion in 2025.

In other words, both revenue and profit were growing quite strongly over that two-year stretch. Net income reached another P10.82 billion in the first half of 2026. Management is eyeing lending, merchant services, overseas users, and deeper use of the app as the next avenue of growth.

But investors also have reasons to look closely at the deal. Around 80% of the IPO consists of secondary shares being sold by existing shareholders, meaning most of the money raised from those shares goes to the sellers rather than Mynt as fresh capital. Management has stressed that this does not represent a full exit by its strategic shareholders, but it does show that several early private equity investors see this as a good time to cash out. (READ: Meet the new cornerstone investors lining up for GCash’s record IPO)

Remember too the oft-repeated investing maxim that a good company can still be a bad investment at the wrong price. GCash is also coming to market at a hefty valuation. At P6.60, its roughly P442-billion valuation works out to about 24.6x its latest trailing 12-month earnings through June, against the PSEi’s 9.87x multiple as of October 2. – Rappler.com