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Visa plans $10 bln IPO, following rival MasterCard
Offering would be 9th largest IPO; payment giant targets overseas growth
Visa Inc., the world's largest card payments processor, filed plans for a $10 billion initial public offering late Friday, following its main rival MasterCard Inc., which went public in May 2006.
The Visa offering would make it the ninth-largest IPO ever and the second-largest by a U.S. company, according to Dealogic.
Visa said it generated net income of $771 million in the first nine months of this year and operating revenue of $3.73 billion. Last year, the company made $437 million on $3.91 billion in sales.
Visa said it has the potential to grow as people, companies and governments change from paper-based to electronic payment. Global card purchase transactions are set to grow 11% a year from 2006 to 2012, with particularly strong growth in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, the company said, citing The Nilson Report, an industry newsletter.
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