Mar 2008 Financial News

Visa raises about $17.86 billion in record IPO

Mar 19, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Credit card company Visa Inc. priced the biggest-ever initial public offering of shares in U.S. history Tuesday, raising a total of about $17.86 billion.

Visa V, , ) priced the hotly anticipated offering of 406 million shares at $44 a share, topping the previously estimated range of $37 to $42 a share. Visa shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange starting Wednesday, under the symbol V.

J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are lead underwriters for the IPO, which easily beat out AT&T Wireless' previous record offering in 2000, which priced at $11 billion.

The strong demand for Visa's shares had been anticipated, as investors seize a growth opportunity amid a harsh economic climate that has negatively affected the financial sector.

J.P. Morgan was slated to offer nearly 29 million shares as Visa's largest selling shareholder, according to regulatory filings. After the shares priced above the expected range, that sale amounts to roughly $1.28 billion.

Investors have shown a great deal of interest in a Visa IPO due to the strong performance of rival credit card company MasterCard Inc. since its own IPO in 2006.

MasterCard shares have risen roughly 350% since their debut


Source:
John Letzing, MarketWatch
March 18, 2008

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