Credit card company Visa raises a record 17.9 billion dollars in what is
the largest initial public offering (IPO) in U.S. history.

 (VISA VNR) - Visa Inc, the world's largest credit card network, burned its name
into the record books for U.S. initial public offerings on Tuesday (March 18),
raising $17.9 billion in an IPO that priced above expectations.
    San Francisco-based Visa sold 406 million class A common shares for $44
per share, topping a forecast range of $37 to $42, according to an
underwriter.
    The company has been approved to list its shares on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol "V". The stock is expected to begin
trading on Wednesday.
    Not only will many of Wall Street top firms get hefty underwriting fees
for handling the IPO -- about half a billion dollars-- but because the company
is actually owned by some of the banks- including lead underwriter JP Morgan--
they get to cash out as well.
    "The Visa offering certainly with 500 million dollars (USD) in
fees is going to put money in some very empty pockets now. Wall Street is
about to deal with a very difficult situation now where there are going to be
very few underwritings that are going to come out in a traditional sense,
until everybody gets a better handle on where they want to be with their other
problems that are creating this financial mess," said David Menlow of IPO
Financial.
    The company plans to use about $10.2 billion in proceeds to redeem
shares held by selling stakeholders, including JP Morgan Chase & Co,
National City Corp, Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc.
    Another $3 billion will be set aside to cover litigation costs, and the
balance for general corporate purposes, according to an amended registration
statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
    Underwriters, led by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have the option to
purchase an additional 40.6 million shares to cover overallotments, according
to Visa's regulatory filing.
    By raising $17.9 billion, Visa surpassed AT&T's $10.6 billion IPO
in 2000 to become the largest U.S. IPO on record.
    If underwriters exercise the overallotment option, the proceeds could
rise to about $19.7 billion, placing the IPO second in the worldwide record
books after Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, which raised $22
billion in 2006, according to Reuters Data.