Visa, Inc. to Offer Stock Today
Despite the fact that the S&P 500 continues its creep to bear market territory, Visa, Inc. still plans to go ahead with its initial public offering today. Bloomberg reports that the move by Visa, Inc. is expected to set the stage for further IPOs this year:
Visa will “set the tone” for the equity markets this year, said Chip MacDonald, a partner in the capital markets practice at law firm Jones Day in Atlanta. “It’s going to be a bellwether,” he said.
The fact of the matter is that initial public offerings are down this year, and Visa, Inc. could turn that around — or confirm the trend.
There are worries that more losses in the financial sector could be seen, and the Visa, Inc. IPO may actually help in that way. After all, companies like JPMorgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) are huge holders of Visa; their capital may be replenished through the IPO. This could be seen as a good way to help some bloodied financial companies increase their funds. And, doubtless, Visa hopes that its IPO will help it as much as MasterCard’s did two years ago.
Expectations are that Visa’s initial public offering will set the share prices between $37 and $42 at the end. This would make Visa, Inc. the largest IPO in U.S. history, and put it second in the world only to Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.
In the meantime, the stock market is making a rally attempt today as earnings come back from the financial sector, and as the market anxiously awaits a Fed rate cut later today.
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Visa stock offer today, stock investing blog, stock market rally
March 19th, 2008 at 11:11 am
[…] Visa Inc. (V) made an initial public offering of its stock. It turned out to be the largest in U.S. history, raising close to $18 billion. Today […]