U.S. plans to sell its remaining 7% stake in Citigroup (Reuters/LA Times)

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Reuters
December 6, 2010, 3:55 p.m.

The U.S. government will sell off its remaining 7% stake in Citigroup, 2.4 billion common shares, in an underwritten public offering, the Treasury Department said Monday.

The proposed offering would mark the disposal of a government stake in Citigroup that once stood as high as 36% after $45 billion in taxpayer bailouts in 2008 and 2009.

Citi has paid back $20 billion in preferred stock, while an additional $25 billion was converted to 7.7 billion common shares held by the Treasury. A subsequent Citi share offering reduced the government's stake to 27%, which the Treasury has whittled down over the last year through the sale of 5.3 billion shares in controlled trades in the market.
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At Citigroup's closing price of $4.45 a share Monday, the Treasury stands to profit from the remaining shares. Last month, a University of Louisiana finance professor estimated that the Treasury had made $3.3 billion on the sale of 4.4 billion Citi shares through October.
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more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-citigroup-20101206,0,2044139.story