Visa Close To Deal To Buy Visa Europe: WSJ

(RTTNews) - Payments processor Visa Inc. (V) is reportedly close to buy its European counterpart Visa Europe for $22 billion.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Foster City, California based Visa is in advanced talks to buy Visa Europe, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal would combine Visa's global operations under one roof after the companies separated eight years ago.

The reports suggests that Visa might announce the deal as soon as Monday when it releases its quarterly results.

This deal would be Visa's largest acquisition. The previous largest was the $2 billion acquisition of Cybersource, a provider of security services to online merchants, in 2010.

According to analysts, the deal could improve Visa's earnings by 5 percent,

V closed Thursday's trading at $78.51, down $0.36 or 0.46%, on the NYSE.