LOC19:40
16:40 GMT
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (KUNA) -- The US Treasury Department on Tuesday
announced it expects to make profit in its latest sale of 1.5 billion shares
of Citigroup years after investing USD 45 billion in emergency bailout funds
to stabilize the troubled financial firm.
The Treasury Department said in a statement it would begin its fourth
trading plan under which investment bank Morgan Stanley "will have
discretionary authority to sell 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup common stock
under certain parameters".
At the height of the financial crisis, the Treasury poured a portion of
funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) into shoring up
Citigroup's capital reserves in exchange for 7.7 billion in Citigroup shares,
once the worlds largest bank.
To date, the Treasury said, taxpayers have recouped USD 41.6 billion back
from Citigroup in dividends, interest, repayment and sales of common stock.
When the sale announced Tuesday is complete, the government's share of the
bank would drop to about seven percent of total shares outstanding, down from
a peak 27 percent.
In a corporate report released Monday, Citigroup said it earned USD 2.2
billion in net income in the third quarter, up from USD 101 million in the
same quarter of 2009. Its revenue, however, dropped to roughly USD 21 billion
from USD 23 billion a year ago. (end)
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