U.S. makes $3.3 bln profit from Citi shares

The U.S. government has made a profit of
$3.3 billion from selling Citigroup Inc <C.N> shares, according
to an analysis released on Thursday.
The analysis by Linus Wilson, an assistant professor of
finance at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, is based
in part on a report on Wednesday from the U.S. Troubled Assets
Relief Program. The report said the Treasury sold 302 million
Citigroup shares at an average price of $4.14 each in October.
The government has been selling Citigroup shares since
April. Taxpayers received shares in the bank when the
government converted some of its TARP preferred shares into
common stock.
The government essentially bought shares at $3.25 apiece,
while the bank's shares closed at $4.42 on Wednesday.
The TARP report was posted on Wednesday.
Below is a summary of the Treasury's profit on Citigroup
shares so far, as tabulated by Wilson.
Total shares sold: 4.4 billion
Total proceeds: $17.6 billion
Profit on share sales: $3.3 billion
Remaining Citigroup shares: 3.3 billion
Estimated number of shares Treasury
will hold by beginning of 2011 1 billion