CitiBank Updates

It appears that the government is close to a deal in which they will take a larger stake in Citibank:

Citigroup Inc. and the U.S. are close to an agreement in which the government will substantially increase its stake in the bank and will demand boardroom changes in return, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal, expected to be announced Friday morning, is designed to ease jitters about the soundness of one of the world's largest financial institutions. Under terms being finalized late Thursday, the Treasury has agreed to convert some of its current holdings of preferred Citigroup shares into common stock, a move that could better protect shareholders against future losses

As a condition, the government is demanding that the New York company overhaul its board of directors, the people said. Treasury will call for Citigroup's board to be comprised of a majority of independent directors. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit is expected to keep his job under the agreement.

The government will convert its stake only to the extent that Citigroup can persuade private investors such as sovereign wealth funds do so as well, the people said. The Treasury will match private investors' conversions dollar-for-dollar up to $25 billion.

The size of the government's new stake will hinge on how many preferred shares private investors agree to convert into common stock. The Treasury's stake is expected to rise to up to 40% of Citigroup, the people said…

The conversion will come at the most-favored price, meaning the government will get the best price of the private shares that are converted. Citigroup has already begun talking with preferred shareholders about the conversion, people familiar with the matter said.

The conditions imposed by the government were hammered out over a week of negotiations. They are designed to make up for the fact that taxpayers will bear greater risk holding common stock rather than preferred. The common shares also won't pay dividends, unlike the preferred stock.

While the government isn't injecting additional taxpayer dollars into Citigroup, the agreement will help the company by boosting a key financial metric known as tangible common equity, which essentially measures what shareholders would have left if the company were liquidated.