Citi Sets Plan to Convert $58 Billion in Stock
June 10, 2009, 10:33 am
Many of its rivals are getting ready to throw back the government’s lifeline, but not Citigroup: To the contrary, Citi on Wednesday said it was moving forward with a plan to convert a large chunk of its preferred shares into common equity. The long-awaited move is expected to give the United States government a 34 percent ownership stake in the troubled bank.
Citi’s plan calls for about $58 billion worth of preferred stock and trust preferred securities, or TruUps, held by the government and private investors to become Citi common stock. The conversion will bolster the bank’s tangible common equity, which investors and regulators consider an important measure of capital strength.
Originally, Citi had planned to begin the stock swap in April, converting $52.5 billion of preferred stock into common stock at a price of $3.25 a share. Since then, the government stress tests determined that the bank needed to raise an extra $5.5 billion.
Citi’s delay in converting the stock has frustrated some investors and analysts and prompted all kinds of chatter about what might be going on behind the scenes. In a press release earlier this week, Citi called speculation that the conversion was delayed by federal banking regulators “entirely incorrect.”
Citi’s conversion is expected to flood the market with 18 billion new Citi common shares, diluting existing investors by 80 percent.
– Cyrus Sanati
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