MONEY MATTERS

New York, Nov. 10 (Reuters): Visa Inc, the world’s largest credit card network, has filed with regulators to raise up to $10 billion in an initial public offering (IPO), in one of the largest and most eagerly awaited US stock offerings.

Visa announced the offering two days after agreeing to pay $2.1 billion to settle a three-year-old antitrust lawsuit with rival American Express.

The card network did not reveal in its registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission when it planned to go public, how many shares it planned to offer, or the expected share price.

San Francisco-based Visa outlined plans in October 2006 to float a majority of the network, which is now owned by its 13,400-member banks, and at the time said it hoped to go public within 12 to 18 months.

On Wednesday, it agreed to settle a 2004 lawsuit that American Express filed against Visa, the smaller MasterCard Inc and eight banks charging them with anti-competitive practices.

The new publicly traded entity, Visa Inc, will combine Visa’s US, international and Canadian operations.

Another affiliate, Visa Europe, will remain a membership organisation and take a minority stake in Visa Inc.

Visa said it planned to use IPO proceeds to fund expansion and an escrow account to help cover legal bills.