NEW YORK, March 20 LAWFUEL — Global law firm White & Case LLP
represented Visa Inc., operator of the world’s largest retail electronic
payment network, in the largest initial public offering in US history. The first major IPO to occur in the first quarter, the deal was closely watched by Wall Street as a measure of investor confidence to put new money into equities and a barometer of the overall health of the US economy.
Visa sold 446.6 million shares at $44 each, raising $19.7 billion in
gross proceeds. On its first day of trading, the stock rose more than 28%
to close at $56.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Serving as Visa’s lead outside counsel on the IPO were White & Case
partners Mark L. Mandel, S. Ward Atterbury and Colin J. Diamond in New
York.
“We congratulate Visa on the enormous success of its IPO, and we are
very pleased to have been able to play an important role in it,” said
Mandel. “This transaction was extremely complex not only because of its
size and global scope, but also because of the novel issues it raised.”
Along with the Firm’s work on Visa’s US public offering and listing,
White & Case’s Tokyo office represented Visa on its concurrent public
offering in Japan. The Firm also worked on Visa’s concurrent public
offering in Canada. In addition, White & Case helped Visa implement an
equity incentive compensation plan for Visa’s more than 5,000 employees
worldwide.
White & Case also counseled Visa on the complicated global
reorganization that preceded the IPO, which involved soliciting consents
from member financial institutions in more than 100 countries and
structuring a series of mergers that consolidated Visa’s various
international organizations into a Delaware corporation, Visa Inc.
“A number of issues that arose with the IPO resulted from the unique
structure of the transaction and the reorganization that led to the
formation of Visa Inc.,” said Atterbury. “Resolving these issues demanded
our Firm’s breadth of talent and capability across multiple jurisdictions
and cultures to help bring the transaction to a close.”
About White & Case
White & Case LLP is a leading global law firm with more than 2,300
lawyers in 37 offices in 25 countries. Our clients value the breadth and
depth of our US, English and local law capabilities and rely on us for
their complex cross-border commercial and financial transactions and for
international arbitration and litigation. Whether in established or
emerging markets, the hallmark of White & Case is our complete dedication
to the business priorities and legal needs of our clients.
