WASHINGTON — The Treasury said Friday it plans to auction warrants in Citigroup Inc., Boston Private Financial Holdings, and Wintrust Financial Corp., disposing of its remaining holdings in the financial institutions.
Treasury plans to sell the warrants that it received the warrants in consideration for investments made under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, during the first quarter.
TARP was created to help bail out Wall Street from the financial crisis. Treasury infused financial firms with cash in exchange for ownership stakes in the companies, and it has already sold its common shares in the three firms.
Treasury holds warrants to buy an additional 465.1 million Citi shares, as well as about 1.6 million shares in Wintrust.
The warrants will be sold through a public offering, using a Dutch auction method that sets a market price by allowing investors to submit bids above a minimum price specified for each auction. Deutsche Bank Securities will be sole bookrunner in the deal.
