Business

Visa offers the largest IPO in US history
by Zuzana Moravcova

Visa gave details Monday about an initial public offering that could raise up to nearly $19 billion. If it works, it could be the largest initial public offering in U.S. history, and also represent an encouraging sign to the stock markets. The banks issuing Visa cards are expected to note a total windfall of more than $10 billion, but Visa's IPO will only have little effect on credit cardholders. "That's a good thing for the banks, and a good thing for consumers. It might help ease the credit crisis a bit," said marketing director at the card information web site, Ben Woolsey. As well as MasterCard, Visa has been shifting from being a privately held interest to a publicly traded company. Following its rival, Visa will offer 406 million shares at $37 to $42 each, as the representatives claimed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. The San Francisco-based company has been planning to get the IPO done this year since a filing in June. But according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, it is believed that the offering will price on March 19 and begin trading the next day. Woolsey thinks that delaying the IPO process would "be like turning around a massive steamship, and could raise speculation about what's wrong," However, demand for IPOs has been incredibly weak recently, reflecting nervousness of the investors. Despite the housing-led credit squeeze, threatening consumers' spending and their ability to keep up with debt payments, Visa expects to see high demand for its stock "It shows that there is a belief that investors want to put new capital to work in this company," said Kathy Smith, a principal at Renaissance Capital.

by Zuzana Moravcova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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posted by Blog TechSource @ 4:13 PM