Citigroup announced Wednesday it plans to pursue an initial public offering of its Mexico business, Banamex, making formal a long-telegraphed spinoff.
The bank first said in 2022 that it would be exiting the business, which operates about 1,300 branches with more than 12 million retail clients and about 10 million pension fund customers. It counts approximately 38,000 employees.
“After careful consideration, we concluded the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business,” CEO Jane Fraser said in a press release.
“Citi has operated in Mexico for over a century, and we will further invest and grow our industry-leading institutional franchise in this critical global hub, delivering the full power of Citi’s global network to our institutional and private banking clients in this priority market,” she said.