Sunday, November 11, 2007

"Its Overhaul Complete, Visa Shoots for the Moon with Its Pending IPO" (Digital Transactions)

Highlights from Digital Transaction Nov 10th article - click here.
  1. "Under the planned IPO, which could happen as soon as 120 days after the global reorganization Visa completed Oct. 3, Visa would sell an approximately 51% interest in the company to the public through so-called Class A shares. The rest of the shares—Class B held by Visa USA members and Class C held by other financial-institution members internationally—have no voting rights.
  2. The filing says Visa will use the IPO’s net proceeds for ..., and for a deposit into an escrow fund to cover settlements or judgments from litigation.
  3. ... Visa still faces a host of suits and regulatory challenges involving everything from interchange to antitrust to currency- conversion fees.
  4. Despite MasterCard’s encouraging experience, Visa’s success on Wall Street is by no means guaranteed. Shares of Discover Financial Services LLC have fallen 37% since Morgan Stanley spun off its card subsidiary in late June.