Thursday November 4 2:42 PM ET
Two Huge Blocks Of Citigroup Stock Traded
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two huge blocks of Citigroup Inc. stock -- one of 18.27 million shares and another of 13.4 million shares -- changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.
The trades had a combined value of about $1.7 billion. Neither the buyers nor the sellers were identified. Both trades were handled by Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney securities arm, traders said.
The 18.27-million-share block crossed at 10:35 a.m. EST (1535 GMT), at a price of 53-5/8 per share, the exchange said. The 13.4-million-share block crossed 17 minutes later at the same price, a trader said.
A spokesman for Citigroup, the nation's biggest financial services company, declined to comment on the trades.
According to traders, rumors cited three possible sellers: Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a long-time holder of Citigroup stock; billionaire investor Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRKa - news). ; and corporate insiders.
A spokesman for Alwaleed in Dubai declined to comment. A Berkshire Hathaway spokeswoman said, ``We never discuss our holdings or business activity.'
Citigroup was up 7/8 at 53-3/4 in afternoon trade and was the most active issue on the New York Stock Exchange. More than 46 million shares had changed hands by 2 p.m. (1900 GMT), more than four times the stock's average daily trading volume.
Citigroup, which has about 3.37 billion shares outstanding, said in a recent government filing that no one person owned more than 5 percent of its outstanding stock.
Alwaleed, whose investments range from luxury hotels, broadcasting and computers to airlines and cars, is best known for buying Citicorp convertible bonds worth $600 million in 1991, when the bank faced difficulties.
Last year Citicorp, whose profits have long since recovered, merged with Travelers Group to form the
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