Oct 18 (Reuters) - Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp

is selling half of its stake in Mynt, the fintech

unicorn which operates e-wallet brand GCash, to Japan's

Mitsubishi Corp ( MSBHF ) for a minimum of 18.4 billion pesos

($318.89 million), it said on Friday.

The Japanese conglomerate will acquire the stake by buying

50% of Ayala-owned AC Ventures, the Philippine group said in a

statement. Ayala owns a 13% stake in Mynt via AC Ventures.

Mynt, a joint venture of Alibaba ( BABA ) affiliate Ant

Group, Ayala and communications firm Globe Telecom

, has two fintech companies: G-Xchange, the operator of

GCash, and Fuse Lending, a tech-based micro-lender.

It was valued $5 billion in a funding round in August that

included Mitsubishi UFJ Financial ( MUFG ).

"We believe Mitsubishi ( MSBHF ) can add meaningful value to Mynt,

which will allow Mynt to deliver significant value to its over

94 million registered users," Ayala President and CEO Cezar

Consing said.

Last week, Mynt President and CEO Martha Sazon said Mynt had

no definite plans for an initial public offering and that its

focus was to grow its business including GCash.

The Philippines is one of the fastest growing fintech

markets in Southeast Asia, with a surge in adoption of digital

services during the pandemic.

($1 = 57.7000 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu

Sahu)