The U.S. Treasury is resuming sales of its Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) stock after suspending the efforts at the end of June during what the government entity called a “blackout period” before the New York-based bank’s second quarter earnings results on July 16th.
The federal government currently owns 5.1 billion Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) shares or about 18% of the company, said the U.S. Treasury in a statement to the press on Monday. The statement also said that the government gave discretion to broker Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to sell another 1.5 billion shares, or about $6 billion worth, of Citigroup stock. The Treasury Department hopes to liquidate its holdings in Citigroup by the end of the year.
Citigroup’s stock price climbed 8.8% from June 30th through Monday’s opening price of $4.02. Since the beginning of share sales in April, The U.S. Treasury has received $10.5 billion in proceeds on the 2.6 billion shares it sold with an average sale price of $4.04 each.
Shares of Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) traded up 1.62% during mid-day trading on Monday hitting $4.09
Citigroup Inc. (Citigroup) is a global diversified financial services holding company. The Company provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a range of financial products and services. As of December 31, 2009, Citigroup had approximately 200 million customer accounts and did business in more than 140 countries. Citigroup operates through two primary business segments: Citicorp, consisting of its Regional Consumer Banking (RCB) businesses and Institutional Clients Group (ICG), and Citi Holdings, consisting of its Brokerage and Asset Management (BAM), Local Consumer Lending (LCL), and Special Asset Pool (SAP). In April 2010, Barclays PLC acquired Italian credit card business of Citibank International Bank plc. In May 2010, the Company announced the creation of a new Collateral Management Services unit within its Securities and Fund Services business.
