Visa Inc said Monday it expects to raise almost US$19 billion from an initial public offering, which would easily become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in United States history.

San Francisco-based Visa said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing it will to offer 406.6 million shares at US$37 to US$42 per share.

There will be an option for its underwriters to buy an extra 40.6 million shares to cover any excess demand.

The filing also showed rival credit card companies MasterCard Inc and American Express Company trailing Visa in transactions in 2006.

At US$18.76 billion, the Visa IPO of up to 447.2 million Class A shares would surpass the US$10.6 billion AT&T Wireless offering in 2000.

It would be almost as big as the two largest past deals combined — AT&T's offering and Kraft Foods' US$8.7 billion offer in 2001.

Visa would follow MasterCard from being a privately held interest to a publicly traded company. MasterCard raised US$2.39 billion in an IPO nearly two years ago.

At a midpoint price, Visa could raise about US$15.6 billion, or more than US$17 billion if underwriters exercise their option to buy the entire lot of 40.6 million shares.

Shares of MasterCard have risen fivefold since going public and are now trading at more than US$203 each.

Yet Visa's offer comes at a time of ebbing appetite for new shares. MasterCard shares have fallen more than 5.5 per cent since the beginning of the month.

Visa made its initial IPO filing in June with the SEC. The shares will be listed with the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'V'.

- AP