SAO PAULO - VisaNet, the Brazilian unit of credit card network Visa Inc, said on Tuesday its initial public offering may reach 7.2 billion reais ($3.66 billion), the biggest stock sale in the country in almost a year.

Shareholders of VisaNet, whose formal name is Cia. Brasileira de Meios de Pagamento, plan to sell at least 477.67 million shares at 12 reais to 15 reais each, the company said in an announcement published in Valor Economico newspaper.

The stock sale would be Brazil's biggest since a 19.43 billion reais offering by mining giant Vale last July.

VisaNet would be the first company to go public in Brazil since June 2008, when energy company OGX Petroleo e Gas sold shares in an IPO.

VisaNet is controlled by Bradesco, with a 39 percent stake, Banco do Brasil, with 31 percent, and Spain's Santander, with 14 percent. Visa Inc unit Visa International is also part of the control group with a 10 percent stake.

Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, Visa Inc, Santander and the Brazilian unit of HSBC are among the VisaNet shareholders selling stock in the credit card processing company and will receive proceeds from the sale.

VisaNet stock will trade under the symbol VNET3.SA VNET3.SA. ($1=1.966 reais)

(Reporting by Elzio Barreto and Guillermo Parra-Bernal; editing by John Wallace)

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