FirstRand benefits from VISA IPO

FirstRand confirms that it has received a pre-tax gain of $123 million from its shareholding in Visa Inc following the issue of shares to FNB, a division of FirstRand Bank (the Bank) as part of VISA’s recent IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The gain represents $69 million from the sale of 56% of the Bank’s total shareholding and $54 million is the fair value of the remaining portion, within which the Bank remains locked for a 3 year period.

The gain will not be included in FirstRand Limited or FirstRand Bank’s normalised earnings for the year to 30 June 2008 but will benefit the Bank’s capital position.