Credit-card processing giant Visa Inc. released the proposed terms of its long-expected initial public offering Monday, saying it plans to sell as much as $17 billion in stock, which would make the Visa IPO the biggest IPO in U.S. history.
The exact date of the Visa IPO is not set yet.
Visa, the industry leader in credit cards, proposed to sell 406 million shares between $37 and $42 each. At the proposed price range, the Visa offering would easily trump AT&T Wireless Group's $10.62 billion IPO in 2000. The IPO's underwriters will have the option of buying an additional 40.6 million shares...
In 2006, Visa recorded 44 billion transactions, compared with 23.4 billion for MasterCard Inc., its largest competitor. The offering represents just more than half of Visa's 808 million shares outstanding. Visa has said the rest will be held by the San Francisco firm's member banks.
Visa made its initial IPO filing in June with the SEC, beginning the process from a private, member-owned association for financial institutions to a publicly held firm following the path of smaller rival MasterCard. MasterCard has been a high-flyer since going public in 2006, with its shares quintupling since then. Both firms aren't as tethered to consumer spending as credit-card issuers like banks because as an electronic-transaction processor it still makes money as more purchases are made with plastic instead of cash or checks.
Visa involves the mergers of Visa Canada, Visa USA and Visa International. Visa Europe will remain a bank-owned membership association and licensee of Visa Inc. The company said it plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "V." The company hasn't said when it plans to make the offering, but today's release implies it could come soon.
At the midpoint of the proposed range, Visa sees raising nearly $15.6 billion, or $17.1 billion if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase all additional shares made available. The company said $3 billion of the proceeds would be put into an escrow account to pay legal settlement, with another $10.3 billion used to redeem stock held by its member banks. The rest would be for general corporate purposes.
The Principal Shareholders of Visa IPO
J. P. Morgan Chase (JPM) 23.3%
Bank of America (BAC) 11.5%
National City (NCC) 8.0%
Citigroup (C) 5.5%
US Bancorp (USB) 5.1%
Wells Fargo (WFC) 5.1%
VISA Europe Ltd. 19.6%
The Underwriters of Visa IPO
Class A Common Stock
J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Banc of America Securities LLC
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
UBS Securities LLC
Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC
Source: By ANDREW EDWARDS for Jesse's Café Américain Blog
If VISA IPO is to go ahead, they will follow in the footsteps of fellow credit card company MasterCard, who went private almost two years ago.
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