PLDT, KKR, Tencent, IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund Commit Up to US$120M of New Investments in the Philippines’ Voyager Innovations
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – April 6, 2020 – PLDT
Inc. (NYSE: PHI|PSE: TEL), the Philippines’ leading telecommunications
and
digital services provider, KKR, a global investment firm, Tencent, a
leading provider of internet value-added services in China, IFC, a
member of the World Bank Group, and
the IFC Emerging Asia Fund, a fund managed by IFC Asset Management Company, today
announced the signing of agreements under which PLDT, KKR, Tencent, IFC
and IFC Emerging Asia Fund
commit up to US$120 million in new funding towards the expansion
efforts of Voyager Innovations (“Voyager” or the “Company”), a leading
technology company in the Philippines.
This follows
KKR’s, Tencent’s, IFC’s and IFC Emerging Asia Fund’s initial investments
totaling US$215 million made to Voyager in 2018, and underscores the
investors’ support of Voyager and its strategy
to provide greater access to digital financial services across the
Philippines through its financial technology arm, PayMaya Philippines
(“PayMaya”). The fresh funding also comes as government, businesses and
consumers are turning to cashless transactions
and digital finance as part of a broader response to present-day
challenges.
This US$120 million investment is part of a broader fundraise for Voyager and is intended to support PayMaya’s rapid growth as it pursues its mission to accelerate digital and financial inclusion in the Philippines and enable the wider Filipino population to participate in the digital economy. The Company is also in talks with other strategic and financial investors.
PLDT, KKR, IFC, IFC Emerging Asia Fund and Tencent said in a joint statement: “This fresh round of investment is a testament to Voyager’s success in providing Filipinos with access to convenient, relevant and inclusive digital financial services through PayMaya. This is also a recognition of the significant role that the Philippine financial technology industry can play in providing meaningful digital solutions to many of the crucial and very-human challenges that the Philippine community faces today.”
Orlando B. Vea, CEO and Founder of Voyager Innovations, said: “In line with the country’s goals, we have made significant strides in spurring cashless adoption in a largely unbanked population. This funding boosts PayMaya’s ability to reach more Filipinos, especially as access to digital financial services becomes even more important.”
Shailesh
Baidwan, President of Voyager Innovations and PayMaya Philippines, said:
“Today, more than ever, our end-to-end digital financial services are
becoming more relevant and embedded in the daily
lives of Filipinos - from sending money, buying airtime load, or paying
for purchases through our PayMaya wallet, bridging the unbanked and
underserved via mobile remittance through our over 27,000 Smart Padala
partner touchpoints in communities, to enabling
payment acceptance for all kinds of merchants. This investment will
enable us to better support our financial inclusion thrust, while
allowing us to expand to adjacent services.”
Voyager’s
PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the
Philippines with platforms and services that cuts across consumers,
merchants, and government. Aside from providing the
payments acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail and gas
merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya is enabling national and social
services agencies as well as local government units with digital
payments and disbursement services.
Through its
PayMaya app and wallet, it is providing millions of Filipinos with the
fastest way to own a financial account with over 40,000 Add Money
touchpoints nationwide, more than double the total
number of traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined. Its
Smart Padala by PayMaya agent network serves as last mile digital
financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved
with access to services.
Most recently,
Voyager’s PayMaya launched its #OneAgainstCOVID19 drive to enable
donations online, via mobile app, and QR to help various humanitarian
organizations such as the Philippine Red Cross, UNICEF,
Oxfam Pilipinas, UP PGH Medical Foundation, and Caritas Manila in
relief efforts for the most vulnerable segments of the Philippine
population affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
KKR’s follow-on investment in Voyager Innovations is being funded from KKR Asian Fund III.
*****
ABOUT PLDT
PLDT is the
leading telecommunications provider in the Philippines. Through its
principal business groups--fixed line and wireless--PLDT offers a wide
range of telecommunications services across the Philippines’
most extensive fiber optic backbone and fixed line, and mobile network.
PLDT is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE: TEL) and its
American Depositary Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE:PHI). PLDT has one of the largest market capitalizations
among Philippine listed companies. Further information can be obtained
by visiting the web at www.pldt.com.
ABOUT VOYAGER INNOVATIONS AND PAYMAYA PHILIPPINES
Voyager
Innovations, Inc. is the leading technology company in the Philippines,
focused on customer-centric emerging market platforms for digital and
financial inclusion. Its digital financial services
arm, PayMaya Philippines (PayMaya), uniquely offers the widest range of
integrated payments solutions for merchants and consumers. PayMaya has
two key businesses:
- PayMaya
Enterprise enables all types of merchants to accept online and
face-to-face payments through a unique proprietary end-to-end payments
ecosystem (gateway, processing, and acquiring
for several schemes including Visa, Mastercard, and JCB).
- PayMaya Consumer provides Filipinos with convenient access to digital financial services through PayMaya, the most recognized prepaid e-wallet and digital payments app, and via Smart Padala, leading remittance network in the country.
For
more information, visit paymaya.com.
ABOUT KKR
KKR
is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative
asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure,
real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge
funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund
investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach,
employing world-class people, and driving growth
and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own
capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides
financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital
markets business. References to KKR's investments
may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional
information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR's
website at www.kkr.com and
on Twitter @KKR_Co.
ABOUT TENCENT
Tencent
uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our social
products WeChat and QQ link our users to a rich digital content
catalogue including games, video, music and books. Our proprietary
targeting technology helps advertisers reach out to hundreds of millions
of consumers in China. Our infrastructure services including payment,
security, cloud and artificial intelligence create
differentiated offerings and support our partners’ business growth.
Tencent invests heavily in people and innovation, enabling us to evolve
with the Internet.
Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998. Shares of Tencent (0700.HK) are traded on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong
Kong. For more information about Tencent, please visit www.tencent.com.
ABOUT IFC
IFC—a
sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank
Group—is the largest global development institution focused on
the private sector in emerging markets. We work with more than 2,000
businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to
create markets and opportunities where they are needed most. In fiscal
year 2019, we delivered more than $19 billion in
long-term financing for developing countries, leveraging the power of
the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.
For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
ABOUT IFC ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY
IFC
Asset Management Company (AMC), a division of IFC, mobilizes and
manages capital to invest in businesses in developing and frontier
markets. Created in 2009, AMC provides leading institutional investors
with unique access to IFC’s emerging markets investment pipeline and
investment expertise, while providing positive development impact in the
countries in which it invests. AMC funds’ investors
include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and development-finance
institutions. It has raised approximately $10 billion across 13
investment funds covering equity, debt, and fund-of-fund products. For
more information, visit www.ifcamc.org
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PLDT, KKR, Tencent, IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund Commit Up to US$120M of New Investments in the Philippines’ Voyager Innovations
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April 06, 2020
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