Hathaway in consortium to bid for Citigroup’s OneMain: report
07 Jul 2011
Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has joined a consortium to bid for Citigroup's consumer-lending unit.
Citing two people with knowledge of the talks, Bloomberg today reported that Berkshire has joined forces with Centerbridge Partners LLC and Leucadia National Corp to bid for the business formerly known as CitiFinancial.
Citigroup had put up CitiFinancial among other of the New York-based banking assets for sale following the $45-billion bailout it received from the US government in 2008.
CitiFinancial, now known as OneMain, which is valued it at about $2 billion, net of liabilities, could fetch Citigroup as much as $8 billion, according to analysts.
Citi had been talking on and off with at least two other potential bidders but recently agreed to negotiate exclusively with the consortium, The Wall Street Journal. had reported last week.
Baltimore-based OneMain lends money for life's emergencies include car repairs, furniture purchases, vacations and medical bills as well as debt-consolidation loans that can be used to pay off credit cards and other bills.