Visa Inc (V)

[eastunder]

Visa Negotiating To Buy Visa Europe For $20 Billion

BY CIARAN MCEVOY, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY


04:17 PM ET


Visa (NYSE:V) is in talks to buy its one-time subsidiary Visa Europe for an amount between $15 billion and $20 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The Foster City, Calif.-based credit card giant approached Visa Europe about the acquisition, but private talks are still in their early stages and could fall apart over the price tag, Bloomberg cited sources as saying.

Visa Europe split from its parent company in 2007 before the credit card company's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. It is owned by more than 3,000 Europe-based banks and has a put option that — if used — would force Visa to buy it within nine months, Visa Europe filings state.

Visa Europe has issued more than 460 million Visa credit, debit, commercial and prepaid cards in Europe.

Shares of its former parent spiked in afternoon trading as the news of an acquisition broke. Visa stock rose 4.1% to 69.33 on the stock market today, above both its 50- and 200-day moving averages. The company emerged out of a flat base n April 22, and its shares are up 5.6% so far this year. Visa has an IBD Composite Rating of 86 out of 99, which means that it trades better than 86% of other publicly traded businesses.


Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/business/050815-751759-visa-in-talks-to-buy-visa-europe.htm#ixzz3ZbMURGyu