Visa raises $17.9 billion in record initial public offer

19 March 2008

Mumbai: Visa Inc, the world's largest credit card network, has raised a record $17.9 billion in an initial public offer as investors found a ray of hope in a market hit by the global credit crisis.

Visa sold 406 million class A common stock for $44 per share, above an expected range of $37 to $42.

Visa's $17.9 billion issue could become No. 2 worldwide after Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd raised $22 billion in 2006.

It, however, surpasses AT&T's $10.6 billion IPO in 2000, which was the record.

Underwriters, led by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have the option to subscribe to an additional 40.6 million shares to cover overallotments, Visa and the banks said in regulatory filings.

Visa will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow. Traders expect the stock to list at a minimum 10 per cent premium to the issue price.