Citigroup and Morgan Stanley in talks over Smith Barney

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 10th January, 2009

The Reuters newsagency says Citigroup is exploring the sale of its Smith Barney brokerage unit to Morgan Stanley.

The deal involves selling the brokerage into a separate company which would be 51% owned by Morgan Stanley, and 49% by Citigroup. Over a three to five year term Morgan Stanley would gradually buy out the Citi stake and move to 100% ownership.

Quoting a source close to the deal Reuters said the proposal was at an advanced and 'serious' stage.

If the deal is consummated the combined brokerage would have more than 23,000 financial advisers making it the world's largest retail brokerage.

In another development within Citigroup Friday, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin resigned as senior counsel to the bank. He will continue as a director of the bank until the AGM later this year.

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