Citigroup (NYSE: C) is reportedly planning on selling or splitting off its $10 billion Citi Private Equity unit as part of an ongoing process to reduce the company’s debt, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
Citigroup’s private equity unit takes minority stakes in companies and invests in other buyout funds. Currently the company oversees about $2 billion worth of Citigroup’s money.
The unit’s management has discussed buying Citi Private Equity themselves along with new partners or with other financing, the report said.
Bloomberg also said that other money-management business units that are marked as “for sale” include Citi’s Property Investors real-estate unit, which oversees $12.5 billino and the Hedge Fund Management Group, which puts money into hedge funds on behalf of Citi’s own investors.
The decision to sell Citi Private Equity was made last year, before President Obama proposed that banks be forced to sell their private-equity firms and hedge funds in January.
