WALL STREET – Hundreds of credit unions are going to find themselves with extra funds starting tomorrow when the Visa Inc. initial public offering hits the markets as the largest IPO in history.
The initial price for Class A shares is expected to be $42, an important benchmark for the hundreds of credit unions being issued Class B shares, which will be redeemed by Visa later this year at a rate of 0.72 Class A shares each.
Visa expects to raise as much as $18 billion from the offering, even with the market in tatters. Visa is the largest payment system in the world, issuing more than a third more cards than its chief rival, MasterCard.
MasterCard shares have run counter to the current bull market and risen by 500% since the company’s May 2006 IPO at $39. MasterCard shares closed down 7% yesterday at $201.52.
