国际英语新闻：U.S. Treasury to sell Citigroup stock

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday its plan to sell approximately 7.7 billion shares of Citigroup common stock.

The Treasury said that it will sell the stock "in an orderly fashion under a pre-arranged trading plan with Morgan Stanley, Treasury's sales agent."

Initially, Treasury will sell up to 1.5 billion shares, which accounts for 20 percent of total shares that the government owns in the bank giant.

Citigroup received a total of 45 billion dollars in bailout money from the government during the height of financial crisis last summer.

A woman walks out of a Citibank branch in New York, the United States, April 26, 2010. The federal government took its first step towards unloading its remaining stake in Citigroup, unveiling plans Monday to sell up to 1.5 billion shares in the banking giant.

Treasury received the shares as compensation for the massive support it extended to the bank. The Treasury owns 27 percent of the company in return for an investment of 25 billion dollars.

The sales are expected to make a profit for the government which purchased the common stock in the summer of 2009 at a price of 3.25 dollars per share. Citigroup shares price stood at 4.71 dollars in morning trading on Monday.

As the U.S. economy is rebounding, the government has been exiting gradually from its investment in the financial sector.