MasterCard delays IPO to Q2, CEO has cancer

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - MasterCard Inc. said on Thursday it expects to delay its $2.45 billion initial public offering until the second quarter, after Chief Executive Bob Selander was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The world's second-biggest credit card association, based in Purchase, New York, had been expected to begin marketing the IPO to investors in late January, and go public by the end of March. The marketing efforts did not take place.

A $2.45 billion IPO would be the largest in the United States since May 2004. MasterCard is owned by the roughly 1,400 banks that issue its cards.

"It makes sense to postpone the offering, because the IPO process is all-consuming, and you really can't conduct it on a part-time basis," said Scott Dettmer, a partner at Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP, a Menlo Park, California law firm, who advises companies on IPOs.

"The CEO is the principal spokesman for the company," Dettmer added. "Even for someone in perfect health, it's a challenging process."

In a letter to MasterCard's member financial institutions, Selander....for more of the story from Reuters