Citigroup Considers Coordinated Stock Sale With Treasury

Bank executives met over the weekend to discuss a possible multibillion-dollar offering of new stock, which would include the simultaneously share sale by the Treasury Department, which holds a 34 percent stake in the company.

Citigroup has received $50 billion in government assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Just last week, Treasury redeemed preferred shares it received in exchange for 7.7 billion common shares in Citigroup.

The bank, like many of its competitors, has grown wary of the government's involvement in its operations, and those that are able to have been aggressive about abandoning the bailout program. Some, like Citigroup, are not yet strong enough to withdraw completely but are taking steps to reduce their dependence on taxpayers.

So far, Citigroup has held only informal discussions with Treasury about its plans. Officials there told the bank that they had no objections to the plan to share stock to so long as it was able to raise offsetting capital, the New York Times reported.

Citigroup executives told the paper they hoped to execute the joint sale as early as the fourth quarter.