By Rogerio Jelmayer
SAO PAULO--Bids for the Brazilian credit-card and
consumer-financing arms of Citigroup Inc. (C) are due Friday, with
three banks considering participating, according to two bankers
with knowledge of the deal.
The sale of the two units are seen as a sign that Citi plans to
focus on private wealth and corporate banking at a time of fierce
competition in Latin America's biggest financial-services
market.
Brazil's three-largest private-sector banks, Itau Unibanco
Holding SA (ITUB, ITUB4.BR, ITUB3.BR), Banco Bradesco SA (BBD,
BBDC4.BR, BBDO) and Banco Santander Brasil SA (BSBR, SANB11.BR,
SANB3.BR, SANB4.BR) are all believed to be thinking about bids,
according to the two bankers.
Two other banks, Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.BR, BDORY) and Banco
BTG Pactual SA (BBTG11.BR) won't participate, according to the
bankers.
Banco do Brasil took a look at the financial data for the two
firms, and decided not to proceed, according to one of the bankers.
The government-run bank tries to avoid outright purchases as that
makes them state-owned entities, which can impose cumbersome
restrictions on operations, the person said.
Press representatives for all the banks, including Citigroup,
declined to comment.
Citigroup is believed to be looking to raise a total of around
1.5 billion Brazilian reais ($765 million) from the sale of its
credit-card unit, Credicard, and consumer-finance arm Credicard
Financiamentos.
Citigroup is Brazil's 11th-largest bank by assets, with total
assets of 63.43 billion reais, according to the Brazilian Central
Bank's most-recent figures. Citigroup declined to offer details on
the size of Credicard operations or overall figures for its
operations in Brazil.
Citigroup has 128 bank branches across the country, according to
central-bank figures. By comparison, Brazil's five biggest banks
have more than 2,500 branches altogether.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com
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