Citigroup to Acquire Wachovia’s Retail Bank; $700B in Assets
The FDIC announced that Citigroup will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia for $2.1 billion.
The terms are interesting in that, while over $300 billion in loans are to be assumed by Citigroup, the FDIC assumes any risk above $42 billion. In turn, the FDIC receives warrants and preferred stock to the tune of $12 billion.
Citigroup Inc. will acquire the bulk of Wachovia’s assets and liabilities, including five depository institutions and assume senior and subordinated debt of Wachovia Corp. Wachovia Corporation will continue to own AG Edwards and Evergreen. The FDIC has entered into a loss sharing arrangement on a pre-identified pool of loans. Under the agreement, Citigroup Inc. will absorb up to $42 billion of losses on a $312 billion pool of loans. The FDIC will absorb losses beyond that. Citigroup has granted the FDIC $12 billion in preferred stock and warrants to compensate the FDIC for bearing this risk.
Wachovia has halted trading, as equity will be wiped out by this deal, and markets are spiraling southward in global response to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Keep an eye on SKF as a reverse indicator of the BKX banking index.