Citi Gets $12.5B Infusion, Posts 4Q Loss

[January 15, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. has gotten $12.5 billion in much-needed cash from a batch of investors as it posted its first quarterly loss in 16 years in the fourth quarter, when the bank's mortgage portfolio lost $18.1 billion in value.

The nation's largest bank, which lost $9.83 billion in the last three months of 2007, also cut its dividend to boost its cash levels.

The $12.5 billion investment from outside investors included $6.88 billion from the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. for a 4 percent stake. Other investors were Capital Research Global Investors, Capital World Investors, the Kuwait Investment Authority, the New Jersey Division of Investment, shareholder Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia and former chief executive Sanford Weill and his family foundation.

The $12.5 billion adds to the $7.5 billion that Citi got in November from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in exchange for a 4.9 percent stake in the company.

The moves were widely anticipated on Wall Street after months of scrutiny over the bank's ratio of cash to debt. That ratio weakened when Citigroup lost money in mortgage-backed bond instruments called collateralized debt obligations and brought $49 billion in hemorrhaging funds known as structured investment vehicles onto its books.

Citigroup said the 41 percent cut of the quarterly dividend to 32 cents a share -- along with the Asian investments and a stock offering of about $2 billion -- will help boost its Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of its financial strength.

Tuesday's announcements fall short of many shareholders' wish for Citigroup to cut its 320,000-member work force and sell off some of its units, but the newly named chief executive Vikram Pandit said he would take "an objective and dispassionate review of all the businesses" after winning the CEO job in December.

Pandit, calling Citi's fourth-quarter results "clearly unacceptable," said in a statement Tuesday that "in an uncertain environment, these actions put us on our 'front foot,' focused on capturing opportunities that earn attractive returns for our shareholders."

[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]

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