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Slim’s Inbursa Bank pays US$134 million for Citigroup shares

The bank controlled by Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican billionaire ranked as one of the world’s richest men, paid about US$134 million to buy 26 million Mexico-traded shares of Citigroup Inc over the past five trading days.

Grupo Financiero Inbursa SA’s brokerage unit purchased the Citigroup stake in a series of trades from Wednesday last week through Tuesday, said exchange records, which don’t specify whether the transactions were on behalf of clients or for the bank’s account. An Inbursa spokesman said the firm had no comment on the trades.

The 26 million shares amount to less than 1 percent of the Citigroup’s stock.

Inbursa, based in Mexico City, bought 9.63 million shares last Thursday as Citigroup fell 26 percent in New York to US$4.71, sinking below US$5 for the first time since 1994 on speculation the company might be forced to sell itself or split up.

The stock rebounded 58 percent yesterday after the US government announced a rescue plan, injecting US$20 billion of cash and shielding the company from losses on some toxic assets.

The value of the net number of shares acquired by Inbursa was 1.78 billion pesos (US$134.3 million). The Citigroup shares were purchased at an average price of 67.77 pesos apiece.

Citigroup rose 13 cents, or 2.2 percent, to US$6.08 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Slim, 68, controls Inbursa, the bank and brokerage he formed in the 1960s. Citigroup, led by chief executive officer Vikram Pandit, owns Grupo Financiero Banamex SA, the country’s second-largest lender. Citigroup, the second-biggest US bank by assets, paid US$12.7 billion to acquire Banamex in 2001.

Mexican weekly newspaper El Semanario reported on Monday that Inbursa had bought 40 million Citigroup shares over three days on the New York Stock Exchange, citing people involved in the purchases it did not name.

Slim vies with Berkshire Hathaway Inc chairman Warren Buffett for the title of world’s richest man, Forbes magazine said.
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