The U.S. government officially owned 17% of Citigroup Inc. as of Thursday, a stake that could be increased to 35% depending on the outcome of an exchange offer that expired at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The company disclosed in a news release that it had completed the process of exchanging $12.5 billion in preferred shares issued to the government last fall into securities that can be converted into common stock under one of many initiatives the Treasury Department has launched to stabilize the U.S. banking sector.
The transaction is part of a previously announced deal through which the government would exchange some of its Citigroup holdings — matching the level converted by private shareholders — into shares convertible into common stock. Results of the private exchange offer were still being tabulated Friday evening.
