Brazil Almost Bought Citibank During Crisis
Courtesy of The Shocked Investor
Newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reports that the Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy, Edison Lobao, revealed today in New York that at the height of the crisis Brazil almost bought Citibank:
"We could have bought and could have had great profit, in addition to prestige," he said. The minister said the decision not to acquire the bank was made by the government as a whole.
Mr. Lobao said that before the U.S. government had bought a third of Citi, the institution sought the Brazilian authorities. He said he did not know the "fair price" which was discussed with Brazil, but, considering the size of the country’sreserves, the country could have purchased a share of the institution.
In late July, Citigroup completed the exchange of securities of $60B that made the U.S an owner of a third of the bank. All the $ 20.3B in preferred stock and hybrid securities and equity securities issued publicly by Citi were exchanged in the offer for common shares, while the federal government shifted about $39.5B of preferred stock for new bonds.
