Citi's Primerica Seeks $100M Through IPO

NEW YORK (TheStreet)-- Citigroup's (C) Primerica financial services and insurance unit is going public.

Primerica filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday for the initial public offering, saying it plans to raise as much as $100 million.

Primerica distributes financial products to middle income households in North America through approximately 100,000 representatives, according to a release by Citi. Primerica underwrites term life insurance, as well as offering mutual funds, variable annuities, loans, among other financial products.

Primerica is one of several businesses listed under Citi's so-called bad bank, Citi Holdings. Citi has been looking to divest a number of assets it placed within its Citi Holdings' portfolio earlier this year. The unit -- separate from its core Citicorp operations -- holds a combination of brokerage, insurance, and lending businesses as well as a pool of toxic assets. The company has been successful at selling some businesses, such as its Japanese asset management operations, but not so much with others, like CitiFinancial and Primerica.

Citi said recently that it plans to sell its stake in the joint venture of its wealth management arm, Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley (MS).

"Today's announcement represents an important step in simplifying our organization and demonstrates our continued success in finding solutions for Citi Holdings, our non-core businesses," Citi Holdings CEO Michael Corbat said in a statement. "We believe this is the best separation alternative for this franchise."

Shares of Citi ended the day up 2.3% to $4.06.