Treasury will try to unload Citigroup shares through IPO

The U.S. Treasury Department said it will attempt to dispose of its remaining common equity stake in Citigroup (NYSE:C) through an initial public offering (IPO).

If the government receives an acceptable price, it will complete the IPO and sell its remaining 2.4 billion shares.

Last year, the Treasury initially received about 7.7 billion shares of Citigroup, which was roughly a 36 percent equity stake in the company, in exchange for bailing out the troubled bank with $25 billion as a part of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) program.

Since then, the Treasury has sold about 5.3 billion shares, leaving it with about 2.4 billion more.

Earlier this year, it began selling its remaining 27 percent (prior to this, the 36 percent was reduce to 27 percent through a Citi share offering) using a pre-arranged written trading plan.

On March 29, the date of that announcement, Citi shares closed at $4.18. Today, it closed at $4.45.

The government acquired its Citigroup stake at $3.25 per share. Therefore, it stands to make tidy profit for taxpayers on its Citi investment.