World's biggest bank Citigroup is planning to sell its stake in the country's housing finance major HDFC to private equity firm Oman Investment Corporation for about USD 1.5 billion, a media report said.
However, when contacted HDFC's vice chairman and managing director Keki Mistry said that the company has spoken to Citi and the banking major has said it has no plans to sell the stake.
“We have spoken to Citi and Citi has no plans to sell the stake,” Mistry said.
A private news channel on Friday reported that Citi may sell its stake worth USD 1.5 billion in HDFC to Oman Investment Corp.
Noting that the move is part of Citi's restructuring plan, the channel said both the banking major and Oman Investment declined to comment.
Earlier, UK's Sunday Times had reported that Citi is planning to offload its stake worth USD 2 billion in HDFC.
“The bank's German operation has already been put up for sale… And it is understood Citi may also sell its USD 2 billion stake in Indian bank HDFC,” the newspaper had said.
Battered by billions of dollars of losses from the sub-prime crisis, Citi has embarked on a major restructuring drive led by its India-born chief executive Vikram Pandit.
On Friday, Citi said it is selling the German retail business to Credit Mutuel of France for nearly USD 8 billion.
Source: Zee News