Citigroup Loses Consumer Unit Bidders: Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup (C) is struggling to keep bidders interested in the sale of CitiFinancial, according to published reports.

A The New York Post article published Wednesday says that two out of three of CitiFinancial's bidders have dropped out of the auction.

Brysam Capital, Blackstone (BS), Carlyle Group, THL Capital and WL Ross -- which were bidding together for the unit -- have dropped out. Also taking a pass are Apollo Management (APO) and JC Flowers, which were working on a joint bid.

The remaining bidder is Fortress (FIG), according to The New York Post, which added that Citigroup has been reluctant to include the private equity business in the auction.

The bidders are reportedly not happy with the financing package Citigroup is offering, according to the article.

Citigroup has been trying to sell the restructured CitiFinancial unit since December. The unit has over 1,500 branches, $13 billion in subprime and is valued at $2 billion, according to The Post.

The auction is set to finish up in the next few weeks.

It is unlikely that Citigroup will sell the unit for less than $2 billion. Citigroup Holdings CEO Michael Corbat told TheStreet in December that, "When the market is willing to pay us the value of those assets we will happy to sell them."

Citigroup had no comment.

--Written by Maria Woehr in New York.



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