Visa drops earn-out portion of Visa Europe deal, cuts forecast

(Reuters) - Visa Inc , the world's largest payments network operator, said it increased the cash consideration of its deal to buy Visa Europe and eliminated the earn-out portion.

The company lowered its full-year revenue growth forecast, pushing its shares down 4.4 percent to $77.25 in after market trading on Thursday.

Visa said it now expects its full-year revenue to grow between 7 percent to 8 percent, lower than its previous forecast of high single-digits to low-double digits.

The cash consideration of the deal will be increased by 1.75 billion euros ($1.97 billion), replacing the earn-out option, following feedback from the European Commission, the company said on Thursday.

Visa agreed to acquire its former subsidiary Visa Europe Ltd last year, in a deal valued at up to $23.3 billion.

Visa then agreed to pay 16.5 billion euros upfront in cash and convertible preferred stock, with potential for an additional payment of up to 4.7 billion euros based on revenue targets four years after the deal closes.

The deal is expected to close in Visa's third quarter.

The company's net income rose 10 percent to $1.71 billion, or 71 cents per Class A share, in the second quarter ended March 31, from $1.55 billion, or 63 cents per Class A share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 68 cents on a per Class A share basis, beating analysts' estimate by a cent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Total operating revenue rose 6.4 percent to $3.63 billion.

The company's U.S. payment volumes, which account for more than half of the total volume of transactions made on its cards, rose 10.5 percent.

(This version of the story has been refiled to correct dateline to April 21)

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(Reporting by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)