Visa is the biggest retail electronic payments network (the cards are accepted in over 170 countries), and its brand is one of the world's most recognized. Now, investors will get a chance to buy shares in the company.
Late Friday, the company filed the necessary papers for an IPO. And it should be a doozy, perhaps raising more than $10 billion.
Visa gets revenues from card service fees, data processing fees, and international transaction fees. And it all certainly adds up. For the first nine months of 2007, Visa generated revenues of $3.7 billion and net income of $771 million.
Of course, in May of last year, rival MasterCard (NYSE: MA) went public. So far, it is up a sizzling 390%. So, expect investors to pile on the Visa deal.
Visa's lead underwriters include JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).
You can visit the SEC website for the prospectus. Also, you can check out other recent IPO activity at DealProfiles.com.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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