By Yantoultra Ngui
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Global investment firm KKR has appointed Goldman Sachs for the sale of its significant minority stake in Philippine fintech company Maya, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
New York-headquartered KKR owns more than 20% of Maya and the potential sale, if it goes through, could value Maya at more than $2 billion, one of the sources said.
The sources declined to be named as the matter was private.
Maya said it was unable to comment and referred Reuters’ request to KKR.
KKR and Goldman declined to comment.
Maya is an all-in-one money app, where it offers digital payment and banking services including bill payments, remittances, savings, investments and cryptocurrency. Its Maya Bank is the top digital bank in the Philippines with a customer base of 5.4 million.
Maya’s last significant fundraising round was in April 2022 when it raised $210 million to fund its digital banking venture and other services like cryptocurrency and micro-investments, valuing the company at $1.4 billion.
KKR invested in Maya, formerly known as Voyager Innovations, in October 2018 when KKR and Tencent Holdings (OTC:TCEHY) separately subscribed to a total of up to $175 million worth of new shares.
That investment marked KKR’s first private equity investment in the Philippines and came as part of its strategy to invest in high-growth markets driven by a rapid increase in technology adoption.
Maya closed 2024 with 39 billion Philippine peso ($665.87 million) in deposit balances and 68 billion peso in loan disbursements in a single year.
Since 2022, the digital bank has disbursed a total of 92 billion peso in loans.
($1 = 1.3665 Singapore dollars)
($1 = 58.5700 Philippine pesos)