Citigroup Close to Paying Back Bailout Aid

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup(C) could unveil as early as Monday an agreement to begin paying back bailout aid it has received, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Citigroup is expected to raise more than $10 billion in new capital by issuing common stock, the Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The funds would help Citigroup pay back part of the $20 billion it received from the Treasury Department and increase the bank's capital, allowing Citigroup to exit a program in which the U.S. government was protecting it from most losses on more than $300 billion of assets.

The Journal reports an agreement hasn't yet been finalized and any deal may take longer to reach fruition.

Citigroup executives also are hopeful the Treasury will announce that it is preparing to sell at least a portion of the 34% stake it holds in the bank, the newspaper reports. The government has invested a total of $45 billion in Citigroup.

Citigroup has been pushing to pay back funds it received under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program ever since Bank of America (BAC) received the OK to pay back the $45 billion it received in bailout aid.

Citigroup has been treating Monday as an unofficial deadline to get a deal nailed down because the capital markets will soon start winding down for the holidays, the Journal notes.

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-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York.

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