Citigroup Inc (C)

[10nisman]

DJ US Treasury Prices 2.4 Bln Citi Shares At $4.35 Per Share
(Some backward@ss U.S. Treasury press releases if you ask me. Tell the world there's going to be an offering and a couple hours later the shares had been sold? What was the point of announcing the offering if the shares were essentially already sold?)

By Michael R. Crittenden
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Washington (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Treasury Department said late Monday evening it had sold its remaining stake in Citigroup Inc. (C), a symbolic end for one of the more controversial government rescues during the financial crisis.

The Treasury said in a release it had priced the sale of 2.4 billion shares of Citi common stock at $4.35 per share. The sale completed the department's efforts to exit its stake of 7.7 billion shares of Citi common stock it received in return for billions in government aid provided to the bank to help it weather the financial crisis. Treasury said that it expects to receive $10.5 billion in proceed from the sale.

More importantly, the Treasury said it expects to make a sizable profit on the $45 billion in government aid provided to Citi. The department said the proceeds from Monday's offering should allow it to realize a profit of $12 billion on the $45 billion investment in the firm, including repayments on trust-preferred securities, stock sales and interest and dividends paid by the firm.

" By selling all the remaining Citigroup shares today, we had an opportunity to lock in substantial profits for the taxpayer and avoid future risk," Tim Massad, acting secretary for financial stability, said in a statement.