International News
On April 7, 1998, Citicorp and Travelers Group announced that they would merge together to form the world’s biggest financial-services company. Citicorp is a global retail franchise and worldwide corporate banking system. Travelers is an investment and insurance conglomerate. The new company would offer banking, insurance, and investment operations in one hundred countries. The companies value the merger at $140 billion. The mechanism for the merger is a stock swap in which Travelers would pay $70 for Citicorps’s shares. This swap would nearly double the previous record holder, WorldCom’s $42 billion offer for MCI Communications. Travelers Group will issue 2.5 shares for each Citicorp share. Current stockholders of each company will own about half of the new enterprise.
Citigroup’s $698 billion of assets would be the largest financial-services company in the world, slightly larger than the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Citigroup would be the most valuable company in the business with a market capitalization of $135 billion. The logo for the company would retain the bank’s familiar letters followed by an umbrella, Traveler’s symbol. The merger helped both companies’ stocks as well as business opportunities. Citicorp’s stock went from $35.625 to $178.50. Travelers rose from $11.3125 to $73. The deal gave Travelers the ability to market mutual funds and insurance to Citicorp’s retail customers. Citicorp was given access to and expanded base of investors and insurance buyers.
The merger would not be without its share of hurdles. Travelers would have to apply to the Federal Reserve Board to become a bank holding company. It would be required to get rid of some of its nonbanking holdings. Leadership also has the potential to be a problem. Mr. Weill, the head of Travelers, and Mr. Reed, the head of Citicorp were to be co-chairmen and co-chief executives of the new Citigroup. They run their operations in very different ways. Mr. Weil and Mr. Reed said that the idea of merging was appealing because it allowed the two organizations to merge their distribution channels and provide consumers with “one-stop shopping.”
On April 7, 1998, Citicorp and Travelers Group announced that they would merge together to form the world’s biggest financial-services company. Citicorp is a global retail franchise and worldwide corporate banking system. Travelers is an investment and insurance conglomerate. The new company would offer banking, insurance, and investment operations in one hundred countries. The companies value the merger at $140 billion. The mechanism for the merger is a stock swap in which Travelers would pay $70 for Citicorps’s shares. This swap would nearly double the previous record holder, WorldCom’s $42 billion offer for MCI Communications. Travelers Group will issue 2.5 shares for each Citicorp share. Current stockholders of each company will own about half of the new enterprise.
Citigroup’s $698 billion of assets would be the largest financial-services company in the world, slightly larger than the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Citigroup would be the most valuable company in the business with a market capitalization of $135 billion. The logo for the company would retain the bank’s familiar letters followed by an umbrella, Traveler’s symbol. The merger helped both companies’ stocks as well as business opportunities. Citicorp’s stock went from $35.625 to $178.50. Travelers rose from $11.3125 to $73. The deal gave Travelers the ability to market mutual funds and insurance to Citicorp’s retail customers. Citicorp was given access to and expanded base of investors and insurance buyers.
The merger would not be without its share of hurdles. Travelers would have to apply to the Federal Reserve Board to become a bank holding company. It would be required to get rid of some of its nonbanking holdings. Leadership also has the potential to be a problem. Mr. Weill, the head of Travelers, and Mr. Reed, the head of Citicorp were to be co-chairmen and co-chief executives of the new Citigroup. They run their operations in very different ways. Mr. Weil and Mr. Reed said that the idea of merging was appealing because it allowed the two organizations to merge their distribution channels and provide consumers with “one-stop shopping.”
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