IFC, IFC Emerging Asia Fund to invest $40M in PLDT’s Voyager Innovations

The International Finance Corporation and IFC Emerging Asia Fund are subscribing to $40 million of newly-issued shares in PLDT Inc.’s Voyager Innovations, PLDT said Monday.

IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund will join KKR and Tencent, which previously announced their investment, as investors in Voyager Innovations, a technology company focused on developing emerging market platforms in digital payments and marketing technologies.

“The investment is expected to help further expand financial inclusion in the Philippines and promote the digital economy through broader use of digital payments,” the telco said in a regulatory filing submitted by Ma. Lourdes Rausa-Chan, senior vice president and corporate secretary at PLDT.

Once the investments of IFC, KKR, Tencent, and IFC Emerging Asia Fund are closed, likely before the end of 2018, PLDT’s ownership stake in Voyager Innovations will be diluted to less than 50 percent—but it will still be the single largest shareholder in the fintech company.

With these investments, the total new external funding raised by Voyager Innovations will increase from $175 million, as announced on Oct. 4, 2018, to $215 million.

“The combined investment continues to make this fundraising the largest investment to date in a Philippine technology company,” PLDT said.

“Through its Global Innovative Retail Payments Program, IFC aims to make financial services much more accessible and affordable to the world’s low-income population by supporting innovative financial services,” said Manuel V. Paniglinan, chairman and CEO at PLDT and Smart Communications Inc.

“That is precisely the goal that PLDT is pursuing through Voyager’s platforms,” he said.

IFC is the private sector investment arm of multilateral lender World Bank. —VDS, GMA News