The Philippines’ Ayala Corporation has sold 50% of its stake in leading e-wallet and superapp GCash to Mitsubishi Corporation. 

In a stock exchange filing, Ayala says it has sold half the ownership of AC Ventures Holding ( ACV ) to Mitsubishi for some 18.4 billion pesos ( US$317.4 million ), subject to regulatory approvals.

Prior to the deal, ACV was a wholly owned subsidiary of Ayala Corp, which owned around 13% of Mynt, GCash’s parent company. Mynt also owns Fuse Lending, a tech-based micro lender that offers loans through the GCash platform. 

“We believe Mitsubishi can add meaningful value to Mynt, which will allow Mynt to deliver significant value to its over 94 million registered users,” says Ayala president and chief executive officer Cezar Consing,

The deal will help better serve the many Filipinos who depend on GCash and Fuse, while also making “a wider variety of financial and other products available” to the public, Consing adds.

In addition to developing products for the Philippine market, Mitsubishi, Japan’s largest trading company, can help Mynt grow overseas, particularly in Japan, “in areas like cloud-based payments and new credit algorithms”, according to Ayala.

Mitsubishi has confirmed the sale in a separate statement, saying that in addition to its acquisition of 50% of ACV, it will also “pursue future investment opportunities”.

Mitsubishi and Ayala will also sign a memorandum of understanding ( MoU ) on a comprehensive collaboration in the Philippines. “The MoU covers additional business developments aimed at stimulating the country's economic growth,” the Japanese company says. 

According to Mitsubishi, the Philippines is expected to have the highest population and GDP growth among Asean countries in the coming years, and that while banking penetration remains low, the country has some of the highest mobile phone ownership and internet connectivity globally. 

“[This] makes the Philippines an attractive market with significant room for growth in digital financial services. Approximately 80% of the country's citizens have tried using the GCash mobile wallet, which is Mynt's core business,” it says in the statement.

Earlier in August, Mynt saw its valuation double to about US$5 billion after Ayala and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group ( MUFG ) poured fresh funding into the Philippine unicorn.  

Mitsubishi pledges to work with Ayala and MUFG "to aid the company's future growth and development”.