Big Banks Look for Second Home Run With Visa IPO

WALL STREET – The nation’s biggest banks, who earned billions with last year’s initial public offering for MasterCard, are looking to score again with the impending IPO for cards competitor Visa USA. The same banking giants that controlled MasterCard stand to make billions more if they sell some of the shares they will receive in Visa International, which will represent the roll-up of Visa USA, Visa Canada and Visa Europe, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The current owners of Visa USA will end up with a 34% controlling stake in Visa International. The biggest shareholders of Visa USA are: JP Morgan Chase (23%); Bank of America (11.5%); Citigroup (5%) and Wells Fargo (5%). Those four banks also owned more than 25% of MasterCard when it went public last year. Other major owners of Visa USA are: National City Corp. (8%) and U.S. Bancorp (5%). The banks earned billions of dollars in MasterCard shares with last May’s IPO, which was one of the most successful in recent years. Since going public at $39, MasterCard shares have more than quadrupled in price to more than $160.