NEW YORK, Feb 25: Visa Inc., the world’s biggest electronic payment processing company, unveiled plans on Monday for what could be a record US initial public offering (IPO), saying it hoped to raise $18.8 billion.

If the San Francisco-based company’s expectations are met, its planned IPO would easily overshadow the giant 10-billion-dollar IPO of AT & T Wireless in 2000.

Visa, which processes payments for credit and debit cards, said it plans to sell at least 406 million shares to public investors as soon as possible. It expects its shares to be priced at between $37 and $42 per share.

The company has hired a group of major investment banks to oversee its Wall Street IPO, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.—AFP