Primerica Inc., the insurance business that Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill used to build Citigroup Inc., is selling shares in an initial public offering at a discount to its competitors.
Primerica planned to raise $252 million on Wednesday, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bloomberg data showed. At the middle of its price range, the Duluth, Ga., distributor of consumer finance products from term life insurance to mutual funds would be valued at 6.74 times earnings after accounting for its planned reorganization. That is 29% less than the median for U.S. life and health insurance providers, data shows.
Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit is dismantling the company Weill built, spending about $50 billion on Travelers Corp., Salomon Inc. and Citicorp during the 1990s to offer everything from insurance to stock brokerage and branch banking.
All proceeds will go to New York-based Citigroup, which is the lead underwriter for the sale. Buyers of Primerica's IPO will own 24% of the insurance firm after the offering.
