Will The U.S. Govenment Sell Its 7.7 Billion Citigroup (C) Shares Soon?
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According to reports after the close from Bloomberg, the U.S. Treasury Department and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) are in talks about how the government will sell its newly acquired 34%, or 7.7 million common shares.
One person told Bloomberg, the government may start unloading the stake as soon as October and aims to sell the entire stake over the course of the next six to eight months.
In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo earlier today, Citigroup (NYSE: C) CEO Vikram Pandit confirmed that the U.S. government can sell their newly issued 7.7 billion common shares at "any time." Pandit referenced that the share issuance is a partial payback of their TARP capital and would be at the discretion of the government to sell when they see fit.
The comments from Pandit on CNBC suggest that the Bloomberg report tonight is not far-fetched. But that being said, StreetInsider.com and likely others have been trying to get answers on the government's new common share position for weeks to no avail. Even answers to simple questions like "will the government file a 13D or other paperwork on the C common share stake?" have gone unanswered. Why leak this out now through an unnamed source when legitimate and easy questions about the position are being asked but not answered yet?
The government has every right to sell now, but 7.7 billion shares flooding the market of a company in the still-fragile financial sector, and still trying find its bearings, may defeat the purpose. In fact the government's 7.7 billion shares is more than the outstanding share count before the exchange offer.
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c common shares
ali on Sep 14, 2009 10:50 PMTell Pandit & Parsons to up the Xanax and stop the BS already !!!! Sure, sell 7.7 billion shares in a few months, wreak havoc on the price and lower C's capital to where it was before the stress test's crappy results. IS THIS THE BEST THESE TWO A**HOLES CANE COME UP WITH ?