US to sell remaining Citi stake
The US government will sell off its remaining seven per cent stake in Citigroup – 2.4bn common shares – in an underwritten public offering, the Treasury Department said yesterday. The proposed offering would mark the disposal of a government stake in Citigroup that once stood as high as 36 per cent after $45bn in taxpayer bailouts in 2008 and 2009. Citi has paid back $20bn in preferred stock, while another $25bn was converted to 7.7bn common shares held by the Treasury. A subsequent Citi share offering reduced the government’s stake to 27 per cent, which the Treasury has whittled down over the past year via the sale of 5.3bn shares in controlled trades in the market.