Citigroup seeks buyers for CitiFinancial: report

Banking giant Citigroup is planning to sell its largest consumer finance company in the US CitiFinancial and is seeking buyers in a deal that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars, the Financial Times today reported.

Citing sources, the paper said that after months of restructuring, Citi had begun contacting potential buyers for CitiFinancial, which was one of the building blocks in its plan to become an all-purpose "financial supermarket."

The New York-based bank has initiated talks with likely bidders that could include private equity firms and other financial groups, but no deal is imminent since discussions were at an early stage.

Wall Street executives who have looked at the business said CitiFinancial could fetch up to $1 billion, but warned that the final price would depend on the financing package Citi offers to potential buyers to help fund the business, the paper said.

Citigroup, one of the hardest-hit banks during the financial crisis, received one of the largest rescue packages under the US government's $700-billion bailout fund, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

The US government had acquired 27 per cent of the bank's shares, in exchange for $45 billion in bailout money in 2008 and 2009.

But with Citigroup returning to profit, in April 2010 due to an improving global economy and sold asset from Citi Holdings, the collection of businesses tagged for disposal, Citigroup paid back $20 billion last December.