Citigroup in preliminary talks on selling Mexico business -execs

NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) is in early talks with attainable buyers of its Mexico customer banking business enterprise Citibanamex, executives reported on Thursday, when cautioning that the sale approach would be sophisticated and could just take a few quarters to complete.

Citi disclosed in January that it was looking for a consumer for the unit, Mexico’s No. 3 shopper financial institution, which has struggled to trim expenses to turn out to be far more aggressive with rivals like Spain’s BBVA and Santander.

Analysts have approximated that the financial institution, which Citi acquired for $12.5 billion in 2001, could fetch among $4 billion and $8 billion.

Citi Chief Executive Jane Fraser explained to analysts that the bank was “attracting a whole lot of attention” in the talks with purchasers, calling the sale a “the moment-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Numerous likely bidders for the organization have currently surfaced, such as Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte as nicely as Santander.

Chief Economic Officer Mark Mason explained to reporters that latest geopolitical occasions could make the franchise more captivating to some others than when Citi to start with announced its intention to provide.

Mason and Fraser both equally reported the exit process was elaborate and could still incorporate an original general public providing, with the CEO including that it was unclear whether a offer would be completed this yr or future.

Reporting by David Henry in New York and Manya Saini in Bangalore enhancing by Christian Plumb and Nick Zieminski

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