Citigroup Inc is planning to sell roughly $15 billion of common shares to help repay funds borrowed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, people briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

The bank received $45 billion of TARP money last year under two different rescues. In a third rescue this year, it agreed to convert $25 billion of TARP preferred shares into common stock, giving the U.S. government a roughly 34 percent stake in the company. The other $20 billion of securities were converted into trust preferred, a hybrid of debt and equity.

Citigroup would be selling common stock to help repay that $20 billion, people said.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins and Paritosh Bansal, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Investment Citigroup