Pandit 'wouldn't be surprised' if treasury weighs stake sale

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said the US Treasury Department will be free to sell its 27 per cent stake in the bank starting next week and that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the government were considering a sale.

“They’re free to do what they want to do,” Pandit said yesterday at an investor conference in New York. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they would actively think about something,” given where the stock is trading, he said.

The Treasury got its 7.7 billion shares in the New York- based bank last September, when the department converted $25 billion of bailout money into common shares at a cost of $3.25 each. The stock rose to $4.18 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, giving the government a 29 per cent paper gain on the stake, or about $7.2 billion.

A 90-day moratorium on a sale of the Treasury’s shares expires March 16, Pandit said. The Treasury, which has said it plans to sell the shares this year, is conducting a round of interviews with securities firms, including Citigroup, to decide which should manage the sale, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions said. A range of strategies are under consideration, including a managed offering of the shares or selling them over time into the market, the person said, speaking anonymously because the talks are private.