Citigroup Inc. announced on Thursday that it has agreed to sell its consumer banking businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) for S$4.9bn ($3.6bn). This comes close on the heels of Citigroup putting its Mexican retail business on the block and is in line with CEO Jane Fraser’s push to exit retail operations in 13 countries and focus on its wealth management arm, Bloomberg notes. As part of the deal, UOB will pay Citigroup a cash consideration for the net assets of the acquired businesses plus a premium of S$915mn ($680mn), the American banking major said. As part of the transaction, Citigroup expects to transfer about 5,000 employees to UOB, who will get a stronger foothold in the region.
Citigroup’s 4.7% Perps are trading at 101.55 yielding 3.38% while UOB’s SGD 2.55% Perps are trading at 98.086 yielding 2.88%.
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