Citigroup Raises BRL2 Billion In Secondary Offering Of Redecard
25 Marzo 2009 - 12:29PM
Dow Jones News
Citigroup Inc. (C) raised 2 billion Brazilian reals ($896
million) with the sale of a portion of its stake on the Brazilian
credit card networking services provider Redecard SA (RDCD3.BR)
through a secondary offer, Redecard said in a statement
Wednesday.
Citigroup sold 82 million shares of Redecard on the Brazilian
Stock Exchange, or Bovespa, with each share priced at BRL24.50.
The shares were sold in Brazil and also to foreign investors in
the form of Global Depositary Receipts, or GDRs. Each GDR will
represent two common shares.
The shares under the offer are set to begin trading
Thursday.
Citigroup said it could increase the offer of Redecard's share
if there is sufficient demand, offering an extra lot of 24 million
shares. Citigroup is the lead coordinator of the operation.
Before the current operation, Redecard was jointly controlled by
Brazilian banking giant Itau-Unibanco and Citigroup. Itau-Unibanco
had a combined 46.42% stake in Redecard, while Citigroup had a 17%
stake.
Earlier this week, Itau Unibanco announced that it exercised its
option to acquire 24 million shares of Redecard, becoming the
company's controller.
Itau-Unibanco was formed late last year by the merger of Itau
(ITU), at that time Brazil's third-largest bank, and Unibanco
(UBB), at that time the country's fourth-largest bank.
On Tuesday, Redecard's share closed up 1.41% at BRL25.05 on the
Bovespa.
-By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-2847-4521;
rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com