Word: citigroup
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...Goldman Sachs is one possible suitor. Its market capitalization of $21 billion is now slightly larger than Citigroup's. And at $53 a share, investors don't seem to be too worried about Goldman going under, yet. So Goldman could use its shares to finance an acquisition. What's more, Goldman might like to get its hands on Citi's $780 billion in bank deposits and 200 million customers. Goldman recently converted to a bank holding company and plans to start attracting bank deposits on its own. But opening up branches is costly. Buying Citi, even with its troubled assets...
...Another possible suitor could be US Bancorp. The Minneapolis bank is one of the nation's largest, but it has little presence on the East Coast, where Citi is big player. U.S. Bancorp has a market cap of $40 billion, about double the size of Citigroup. What's more, U.S. Bancorp chief financial officer Andrew Cecere recently told the Wall Street Journal said that the firm was interested in making a large acquisition...
...After the mess that followed Lehman Brothers, regulators have no interest in seeing another big financial player go belly up. And now the government has a vested interested in not letting that happen. In October the government, as part of the TARP program, invested $25 billion in Citigroup. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he will do everything to protect that and other taxpayer investments. Paulson agreed to invest more money in AIG to keep that insurance company alive. So there is reason to believe he would do it again with Citi...
...There are a number of things the government can do to help Citigroup stay afloat. Perhaps the lowest cost solution would be for the government to guarantee some or all of Citi's debts. That would entail no initial outlay of funds. And with many analysts saying that Citi's books are fundamentally sound, this could be the way to go. With a guarantee Citi would not be forced to sell its assets at a discount, if any of the bank's creditors or trading partners want their money back. That would save Citi from having to write down...
...Another option could put more money into the firm from the TARP program. The problem with that plan is Citigroup may need more money than the Treasury could inject into the firm. Paulson only has $60 billion left of the initial $350 in TARP funds that he can spent without having to face a review from Congress. More importantly, the government does not want to end up owning Citigroup. Then taxpayers would be on the hook for all of the bank's debt. So the most the government could invest in Citigroup would be $20 billion, which is the amount...