Verisk sees $1.7 billion IPO, to price October 6

Insurance risk assessment specialist Verisk Analytics Inc on Monday set the terms of its initial public offering, saying it expects the offering to yield $1.7 billion in what could become the largest U.S. IPO in a year and a half.

Verisk, a New Jersey-based company that collects actuarial and underwriting data related to U.S. property and casualty insurance risks, said in an updated prospectus filed with U.S. regulators that it expects to sell 85.3 million shares for $19 to $21 apiece and list them on Nasdaq.

It could be the largest U.S.-listed IPO since credit card operator Visa Inc raised $19.6 billion in March 2008, but its pricing is scheduled for October 6, an underwriter said, the same night as that of the planned $7.3 billion IPO by the Brazilian unit of Spanish bank Santander .

All the shares in the IPO are being sold by Verisk's existing shareholders, which include insurance companies American International Group Inc, The Hartford Financial Services Group , ACE Group Holdings , and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc .

Verisk Analytics' revenues rose 15 percent to $503.7 million in the first six months of 2009 over the year earlier period, while net income rose 12 percent to $90.9 million over the same period.

Recent IPOs by risk analytics firms have included the January 2008 offering by RiskMetrics Group Inc and the November 2007 IPO by MSCI Inc , a spinoff of Morgan Stanley.

RiskMetrics was trading 17.8 percent off its IPO price in Monday afternoon trading, while MSCI was up 52.7 percent above its IPO price.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Richard Chang)