V - Visa Inc.- NYSE- Business Services (NYSE Stock)

[Grimgrak]

Do you guys know how to get in on IPO's at the initial price before the public spikes it?

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/09/news...ion=2007110919
NEW YORK (AP) -- Visa, the biggest U.S. credit card network, said in a regulatory filing on Friday that it hopes to raise $10 billion in an initial public offering.

Visa said it plans to deposit a portion of the company's proceeds from the IPO into an escrow account to pay settlements or judgments related to litigation settlements.

On Wednesday, Visa disclosed that it will pay American Express Co (Charts, Fortune 500). up to $2.07 billion to settle a lawsuit alleging the company illegally stifled competition. Under the plan, Visa said its member banks will absorb the costs of the settlement.

Despite a turbulent week on Wall Street, which ended with a major drop on Friday, Visa's IPO is hotly anticipated by investors. Visa is following in the footsteps of rival MasterCard (Charts), which has more than quadrupled since the company went public in May at $39 a share.

As Wall Street struggles, MasterCard and Visa have secured the enviable role of processing the world's credit card payments but taking on none of the debt. The risk is instead held by the 25,000 banks in more than 200 countries that issue the cards.

On Oct. 31, MasterCard Inc. reported that third-quarter profit jumped 63 percent, far exceeding Wall Street's expectations and driving shares to an all-time high.

Visa posted net income of $771 million on operating revenue of $3.73 billion for the nine months ended June 30, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Visa did not disclose the number or expected price range of the shares it plans to offer. The company noted that the total offering price was estimated solely to calculate its registration fee and may change.

Visa also did not indicate whether any stockholders will sell shares in the IPO. The company listed JPMorgan Chase (Charts, Fortune 500) as its largest stockholder, with 23.3 percent of its Class B shares. According to the filing, Bank of America Corp (Charts, Fortune 500). owns 11.5 percent of Visa's Class B stock and National City Corp. owns 8 percent of Class B shares.

JP Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs, Banc of America Securities, Citigroup Global Markets (Charts, Fortune 500), HSBC Securities, Merrill Lynch (Charts, Fortune 500), UBS Securities and Wachovia Capital Markets are serving as the IPO's lead underwriters.

Visa made the disclosure in an S-1 filing with the SEC. Previously, Visa released the restructuring steps it would take to prepare for its IPO in S-4 filings.

The San Francisco-based company did not identify a proposed stock exchange or stock symbol in the filing.

Visa to pay up to $2.25B to American Express

[Ciao]

Hello Gg
I can’t really help you, because here we have a some different ways to get into an IPO…
but we still have to “pass”(buy) through the bank/broker
contact them… they should advice you and buy it for you…

good luck

[BadThad]

WOW! This is HUGE news.....the long awaited VISA IPO! I need to do some DD because I'm in. I've been waiting for this announcement for months. This is going to skyrocket.

Grimgrak - There's in way for you to get those shares. Special deals are made before the public offering to obtain shares. We just have to wait until the market opens to buy them. If it's to start at $39, that means when the opening bell rings it will be $80 PPS for us regular Joe's....just a fact of life.

[sevago00]

from my knowledge you cannot buy it at IPO price. thats the price investment bankers will almost pay to the company. whatever the market price will be then (probably at least 30% higher) that profit goes to the investment banker and thats how these guys make their money. the only way you might be able to get at such low price is if you work or are a large stakeholder of one of these institutions.

[Therion]

When's the VISA IPO supposed to happen?

And no, it is impossible to get cheap shares if you're not connected to the IPO directly. But you can put in a market order the day of the IPO and you'll probably get the shares as soon as they get on the market. If VISA does what MC did, there's still a lot of money to be made, but if consumer spending is significantly lower over the next quarter or two, it will impact the price eventually.

[BadThad]

It's getting SERIOUSLY close now....just weeks away:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...CB9AE048BF2%7D

[BadThad]

More hype:

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Visa Inc. may raise as much as $17 billion in what would be the biggest U.S. initial public stock offering.

Visa, the world's largest payment-card network, plans to sell 406 million Class A shares for $37 to $42 each, the San Francisco-based company said in a regulatory filing today. Banks have the option of selling an additional 40.6 million shares, pushing the potential size of the deal to $18.8 billion.

The company is trying to replicate the success of its smaller rival, MasterCard Inc., whose shares have surged more than fivefold since a May 2006 IPO. Demand for initial public offerings has waned this year, with 97 companies raising $12 billion, or 43 percent less than in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Revenue at Visa and MasterCard has surged as consumers switch more of their purchases to credit and debit cards, which will handle 55 percent of all U.S. transactions by 2011, according to the Nilson Report of Carpinteria, California. That's up from 40 percent in 2005. The companies are insulated from rising defaults and late payments because, unlike rivals American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services, they don't extend credit to cardholders.

Visa said earlier this month that profit doubled to $424 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Revenue surged 76 percent to $1.49 billion.

MasterCard Profit

MasterCard's fourth-quarter net income climbed sevenfold to $304.2 million. The Purchase, New York-based company has exceeded analysts' profit estimates every quarter since going public.

At the high end of the projected range, Visa's transaction would be the world's second-biggest IPO, after the $22 billion raised by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. in 2006.

Fifteen banks are selling Visa's shares, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. The stock will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker V.

[CatFish]

lol radio has been really pushing this too - just heard more this morning and will be interesting to watch it all unfold.

[BadThad]

You going to jump in? I'm all over this, it's going to make or break me as I have significant funds I've been holding just for this. I just hope the bear doesn't eat it alive!

[CatFish]

have been thinking about it but am not sure just yet plus only have a tiny bit to play with and don't wanna sell anything else just yet and probably should get on filing taxes early b/c am getting a bunch back that i plan on using for stock gambling