AMLO Sees ‘No Issues’ If Mexican Billionaire Germán Larrea Buys Citi’s Banamex

Bloomberg — There would be “no issues” if billionaire German Larrea’s Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICOB) buys Citigroup Inc.’s (C) retail banking unit in the country, Banamex, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a press briefing Tuesday.

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Grupo Mexico Seen in Advanced Talks In Citigroup’s Banamex Unit Acquisition

New York-based Citigroup launched the sale of Banamex in January, in what could become one of the year’s biggest banking deals

“If it’s going to be the ones from Grupo Mexico, there won’t be any problem,” AMLO, as the president is known, said after being asked whether the mining giant was acquiring the unit. Bloomberg previously reported Citi is nearing a deal to sell most of its Banamex retail operations to Larrea’s company for roughly $7 billion.

AMLO said conditions for the sale he set out last year had been met, but that he still needed to check on “some tax payments”. The president had requested that the buyer be a Mexican who is up to date on tax payments and who commits to keeping Banamex’s huge art collection in the country while also agreeing not to carry out mass firings.

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Citigroup’s Banamex Sale Gets a Stress Test with AMLO’s Demands

The sale of Citigroup’s retail banking operations would mark the biggest M&A deal in years in Mexico, a market that has been moribund for most of this century

“We have information that negotiations are going well,” he said. “I just need to go over the taxes aspect.”

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