Visa Taking $17.9 Billion in Market Trading Capital (V)

Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) will trade this morning.  The deal has priced at $44.00 per share, which is $2.00 above the range of $37.00 to $42.00 per share.  That is also what we noted as the gray-market indications yesterday afternoon.  The total amount that is going to be absorbed from this IPO is some $17.9 Billion.

This is the largest IPO in the U.S. and is actually the second largest global IPO in history behind the $22 Billion IPO of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. in 2006.

Yesterday we noted that traders were hiding out in Visa’s member banks and owners as the way to get in on the IPO ahead of time if investors worried they weren’t going to get shares.

Lead underwriters include JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.  The syndicate is actually huge.  Others listed are Banc of America, Citigroup, HSBC, Merrill lynch, UBS, Wachovia, CIBC, Daiwa Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Piper Jaffray, RBC Capital, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, and Wells Fargo.

Shares should begin trading shortly after the market open today.

Jon C. Ogg
March 19, 2008