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Card company to buy Visa Europe in deal worth up to 21.2 billion euros

November 2, 2015 12:10 PM

Visa Inc and Visa Europe, a cooperative of European banks with over 500 million cards, were part of a global bank-owned network until 2007.

Visa to buy Visa Europe in deal worth up to 21.2 bln euros

Visa Inc said on Monday it would acquire former subsidiary Visa Europe for 16.5 billion euros ($18.19 billion), with the potential for an additional payment of up to 4.7 billion euros.

The upfront payment comprises 11.5 billion euros in cash and preferred stock convertible into Visa Inc class A common stock valued at 5 billion euros.

Visa Inc and Visa Europe, a cooperative of European banks with over 500 million cards, were part of a global bank-owned network until 2007. Most of the units merged to form Visa Inc, which went public in 2008, leaving Visa Europe as a separate entity.

The deal is expected to give Visa more scale to compete with rival MasterCard Inc.

Visa, which also released fourth-quarter results on Monday, said it authorized a new $5 billion share buyback program.

The company's net income jumped to $1.51 billion, or $0.62 per diluted class A common share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $1.07 billion or $0.43 per share. ($1 = 0.9071 euros)

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