SAN FRANCISCO – Visa, Inc., on Tuesday said it used 9% of its Class B shares owned by credit unions and banks to finance an $1.6 billion deposit to its litigation escrow account, which will be used to pay a planned settlement of civil antitrust charges brought by merchants.
Visa deposited 15.4 million Class B shares, valued at $101 each, into the account, which is to be funded by credit unions’ and banks’ shares held by Visa under the terms of the company’s 2008 initial public offering.
Last week it said it plans to use $770 million of its shares owned by credit unions and banks to add to its own litigation account to pay its share of the settlement, which has yet to be finalized.
The civil claims were brought by merchants who claim Visa and MasterCard conspired to suppress competition by banning merchants from steering customers to cheaper forms of payment. The two companies last year agreed to settle similar antitrust charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. A settlement of the merchants’ case may be as much as $4 billion.
