KKR joins $120m investment in Philippines’ Voyager

KKR is investing via its third Asian fund, which closed at $9.3 billion in 2017. The private equity firm is joined by Voyager’s parent company and local telecom provider PLDT, along with fellow existing investors Tencent Holdings, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund. This is part of an ongoing round, with Voyager said to be in talks with a number of other strategic and financial investors. 

It follows a $175 million investment by KKR and Tencent in 2018 that represented KKR’s first PE commitment in the Philippines. That deal coincided with a $40 million contribution from IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund. All four investors acquired minority stakes, although PLDT agreed that its controlling position could be reduced to less than 50% in the future. Ownership percentages were not disclosed with confirmation of the latest investment.

Voyager operates a number of platforms focused on payments, enterprise services, remittances, lending, and e-commerce rewards, with a focus on domestic financial inclusion. It will use the fresh capital to build out its PayMaya unit, which specializes in payment systems for merchants and consumers. The app and wallet are serviced by a network of 40,000 touchpoints, which is more than double the total number of all traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined, according to a release.

PayMaya is positioned as the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the country with a user base that spans the largest local e-commerce, food, retail, and gas merchants, as well as regional governments and social services agencies such as the Philippine Red Cross. Recent initiatives include the launch of a COVID-19 donations drive that mobilizes digital tools such as a QR code system to support relevant humanitarian organizations. 

KKR’s investment in Voyager has been held up as a rare entry for global private equity into a middle-market dominated by incumbent conglomerates that are reluctant to give up control of assets. It is also seen as a significant milestone for the Philippines’ fledgling fintech ecosystem, which is broadly characterized by a thriving remittance market and the view that a young domestic consumer base with greater demand for financial services is increasingly turning to digital channels.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Expansion
• Philippines
• KKR
• Tencent
• IFC
• Financial Services