In: Finance
Q2. The largest U.S. IPO was the $19.7 billion sale of stock by the credit card company
Visa in 2008. A syndicate of 45 underwriters acquired a total of 446.6 million Visa
shares for $42.768 each and then resold them to the public at an offering price of
$44. The underwriters’ spread was therefore $44 2 $42.768 5 $1.232. The firm also
paid a total of $45.5 million in legal fees and other costs. 5 Therefore, the direct costs
of the Visa issue were as follows:
Spread of the underwriters is the difference between the issue price and the price offered to underwriters = $44-$42.768=$1.232.
Direct cost = legal fee and other costs + underwriting cost = $45.5 mn + (underwriting spread * no of shares underwritten)= 45.5 mn + (1.232* 446.6 mn) = $ 595.71 mn