Visa Brazil affiliate plans country's biggest IPO

One of Brazil's top credit card companies is going public, conveying confidence that consumer spending will revive as the global economic crisis cools.

Brazil's securities regulator says the local affiliate of Visa Inc. will raise the equivalent of $4.3 billion in what local media say is the country's biggest-ever IPO.

A statement on the regulator's Web site on Friday said that Sao Paulo-based VisaNet is selling 559.8 million shares for the equivalent of $7.69 each.

Banks including Bradesco SA, state-owned Banco do Brasil and Spain's Banco Santander helped sell shares, which are due to start trading on the Bovespa stock exchange on Monday.

VisaNet's full name is Cia. Brasileira de Meios de Pagamento.