Indonesia’s GoTo sells stake in Philippines e-wallet Coins.ph

SINGAPORE, April 4 (Reuters) – GoTo Group, Indonesia’s biggest tech firm, said on Monday it had sold its majority stake in Filipino e-wallet Coins.ph, signalling the end of it efforts to capture the Philippines market.

Ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek, which merged last year with e-commerce leader Tokopedia to form GoTo, had acquired the stake in 2019 as it planned a full expansion into the Philippines. But the plan was halted in the same year after regulators did not grant it a ride-hailing license.

The Philippines, with a young, digitally-savvy population of 110 million, has seen increased investments from regional tech firms, including GoTo rivals Sea SE.N and Grab.

“Our focus on international operations remains in place,” said a GoTo spokesperson.

“We are committed to our core market in Indonesia as well as to our deepening investments in Vietnam and Singapore.”

GoTo said last week it plans to raise $1.1 billion in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) in Jakarta, in one of Asia’s biggest IPOs so far this year.

(Reporting by Fanny Potkin; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

((f.potkin@thomsonreuters.com;))