Citigroup to sell $7.5 billion stake to Abu Dhabi

more: http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/071127/citi_abudhabi.html?.v=24
Reuters

Citigroup to sell $7.5 billion stake to Abu Dhabi
Tuesday November 27, 9:25 am ET
By Dan Wilchins and James Cordahi

NEW YORK/DUBAI (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C - News) is selling up to 4.9 percent of itself for $7.5 billion to the Gulf Arab emirate of Abu Dhabi, giving the largest U.S. bank fresh capital as it wrestles with the subprime mortgage crisis and the resignation of its chief executive.

The capital injection will shore up Citi's balance sheet, which has been hurt by some $6.8 billion of writedowns and losses in the third quarter, and the potential for another $11 billion in the fourth quarter.

Citi is paying a high price for the capital injection by selling mandatory convertible securities to Abu Dhabi which pay a fixed coupon of 11 percent. That is above the average yield on U.S. junk bonds, which is 9.4 percent according to Merrill Lynch data.

gee, and we were worried about them blowing up buildings ... not bulldozing them ...

But perhaps they fall into the terrorist classification, too.