Reader Steve sent this tidbit from the Australian. Sovereign wealth funds not all that long ago were generally seen as sophisticated to at least competent. But so were university endowments, and in many cases, “sophisticated” turned out to be tantamount to “has a higher appetite for risk than most” which in a bull market can look very clever.
In this case, Citigroup looks to be the clear winner in a deal with Abu Dhabi’s SWF. Unless the bank’s stock rallies massively, the fund will convert preferred stock paying rich dividends into common at a conversion price of $31, on a stock now trading in the neighborhood of $4.
Moral of the story: if you have a deal with an embedded bet (in this case, that the stock would appreciate) you need to ponder whether that bet will pan out. I would have held onto the fat dividend for as long as possible (and I suspect it could have been longer than two years).
From the Australian:
The terms of the Citigroup deal looked lucrative for Abu Dhabi back in November 2007, when it raced to Citi’s rescue as the New York bank crumbled under soaring investment losses tied to the depressed US mortgage and housing markets. Abu Dhabi wrote a check for $US7.5 billion in exchange for an 11 per cent annual dividend.
The bad news for Abu Dhabi is it only demanded such dividend payments for a little more than two years — until March 15, 2010. Afterwards, Abu Dhabi would in essence exchange its original investment in four instalments for Citigroup common stock, which was then worth nearly $US31.
To pull off that exchange, Citigroup on Wednesday announced a coming public bond offer that will pay a much smaller yield of slightly more than 6 per cent. The proceeds will go to Abu Dhabi, which is required to use the cash in March for its expensive purchase of Citigroup stock.
Abu Dhabi, by agreeing ahead of time to exchange cash for stock at a price of $US31.83, figured to make money under the assumption that Citigroup’s shares would rise modestly over more than 27 months. “This investment reflects our confidence in Citi’s potential to build shareholder value,” Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s managing director, said at the time.
But now it is Citi, not Abu Dhabi, that is seeing prospects for a winning deal. If Citi’s stock price holds steady through March, the beleaguered New York bank will basically be able to raise new capital by selling stock at more than seven times its market price. The deal will also boost Citi’s Tier 1 common equity and tangible common equity by $US1.875 billion, according to Wednesday’s statement.
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This deal looks so good for Citi that to the average persons is sounds studied. That will help them nip the bud of TARP
Maybe.
But maybe it was a round-turn deal from the beginning and Citi loaned equal amounts of money to dubious Gulf-borrowers.
Guess we will not find out…..
Definitely Money is fungible.
-In November 2007, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the sovereign-wealth fund owned by the capital of the United Arab Emirates, injected $7.6 billion into Citigroup (4.9% Citigroup stake).
– In December 2008, $8 billions dollars were invested by Citigroup in Dubai public-sector entities just after receiving TARP support. Mr. Bischoff, who visited Dubai in November 2008, said at the time that the bank had “lots of billions” of dollars of exposure to Dubai debt and and “still had a positive outlook on its economy”.
– Citigroup will be able to raise new capital by selling stock at more than seven times its market price to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The deal will also boost Citi’s Tier 1 common equity and tangible common equity by $1.875 billion, according to Wednesday’s statement.
– Citigroup’s exposure to Dubai World, the multi-billion dollar holding company owned by the Dubai government that has temporarily stopped paying its debts, is being estimated at $1.9 billion.
Next? I guess The money invested by ADIA in Citigroup will be reinvest in the emirates or will just cover Citigroup’s losses in the region.
It’s not clear if emirates are saving Citi or Citi is saving the emirates…
Yet US government, that is taxpayers, has now 34% stake in Citigroup.
As Willem Buiter, the newly appointed chief economist of Citigroup wrote “Dubai is not systemically significant.” Yet Emirates are definitely significant for Citigroup…
“Every dog has its day, even Citigroup”
Better to be lucky than smart.
Since Citi loaned a ton of money to Dubai last December, Abu Dhabi is picking and choosing which debt it’ll help Dubai pay, couldn’t Abu Dhabi be “selective” in regards to the Citi loan on whether to redeem it, thereby keeping the Citi stock price down, and in the end it’ll be cheaper for them?
I never understood how the US isn’t a 100% owner of Citigroup.
When they pumped $45 billion dollars into it, it was worth 15 billion.
Could someone please explain how we got screwed so badly?
Awesome !
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_bi_ge/us_citigroup_abu_dhabi