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SAO PAULO--Brazil's three largest private-sector banks all made offers Friday to buy the Brazilian credit-card and consumer-financing arms of Citigroup Inc. (C), according to two bankers with knowledge of the deal.
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.
Citing strategic reasons, neither of the two bankers provided the values of the bids.
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) were all expected to bid, according to bankers interviewed earlier this week.
When contacted Friday, all three banks declined to comment.
Two other banks, Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.BR, BDORY) and Banco BTG Pactual SA (BBTG11.BR), won't participate, people familiar with talks said earlier this week.
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 earlier this week.
Citigroup is Brazil's 11th-largest bank by assets, with total assets of BRL63.43 billion, 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.
--Paulo Winterstein contributed to this article.
Price/Book Ratio | 0.73 | |
Price/Tangible Book Ratio | 0.89 | |
Price/Cash Flow | 17.5 | |
Price/Free Cash Flow | 11.7 | |
P/E as % of Industry Group | 106.0 | % |
P/E as % of Sector Segment | 93.0 | % |
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