Since the 1980s, Sandy Weill spent billions on deal-making to build the Citigroup (NYSE: C) empire. Now it is in the process of being dismantled. The company has little choice as it must deal with its precarious capital base (the firm is the beneficiary of $45 billion in federal government loans).
So this week, Citigroup announced a deal to sell a variety of its Nikko units to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group for roughly $7.9 billion or 774.5 billion yen. Keep in mind that Citigroup purchased the division in 2007 for 1.6 trillion yen. Yes, it's a big-time haircut.
Nikko is a major player in the Japanese marketplace, with operations in brokerage and underwriting. In fact, the sale is going to be a game-changer in Japan as Sumitomo will have now more scale against rivals like M.U.F.G. and Mizuho Financial Group.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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