A Brazilian company in which Visa Inc. has a minority stake is expected to raise $4.3 billion in the world's biggest initial public offering in more than a year.
Shares in Cia. Brasileira de Meios de Pagamentos, commonly called VisaNet, were priced last week at $7.69, the high end of the anticipated range, and are set to begin trading today.
Shareholders are selling 559.8 million voting shares, according to the Web site of Brazil's securities regulator. The amount includes a possible supplemental offering.
The price shows investors piled into the shares amid prospects of credit card growth in Latin America's biggest economy, according to Eduardo Roche, an analyst with Model Asset Management in Rio de Janeiro.
"In the medium term, these domestic consumer stocks have a very good outlook for significant growth in the industry," Roche said.
VisaNet shareholders had initially said they would sell 477.7 million shares, with the option to sell an additional 71.65 million shares to meet demand and another 95.5 million shares, according to the prospectus.
Visa, of San Francisco, owns 10% of VisaNet.
Brazil's credit card market expanded 22% in 2008 and has expanded about 20% every year since 1995, when the government introduced a new currency pegged to the U.S. dollar in an effort to bring down inflation from 5,000% per year, according to data compiled by Itau Unibanco Holding SA, the nation's largest bank.
