Visa IPO charges ahead despite woes

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The credit crisis that has been haunting the stock market for months wasn’t enough to scare investors away from the IPO of the world’s largest credit card processor.

Overcoming the jitters that have battered many of the lenders that issue its cards, Visa Inc. sold 406 million shares at $44 apiece late yesterday to raise nearly $18 billion and complete the most lucrative initial public offering in U.S. history.

The price topped the range of $37 to $42 per share that Visa set three weeks ago, reflecting high demand to own a piece of a company that’s promising earnings growth of 20 percent despite a credit crunch that’s choking the U.S. economy.

"This shows that all the recent financial turmoil obviously hasn’t bothered a lot of people," said Nicholas Einhorn, an IPO analyst for Renaissance Capital of Greenwich, Conn.

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