Visa to purchase Visa Europe for $18B

Visa announced today it would acquire former subsidiary Visa Europe for 16.5 billion euros ($18.2 billion), with the potential for an additional payment of up to 4.7 billion euros.

Visa and Visa Europe were part of a global bank-owned network until 2007. The majority of the units merged to form Visa went it went public in 2008, leaving Visa Europe as a separate entity.

Visa also authorized a new $5 billion share buyback program.

Read more from Reuters.