According to The New York Observer, a contract has not been signed, but negotiations are in its final stages. For Citigroup, the sale will be a small drop in the bucket to its latest financial woes from its heavy losses from collateralized debt that eventually caused the expulsion of CEO Charles Prince. The panelists at Wednesday's spotlight on the real estate sector at The Deal's M&A Outlook 2008 conference pointed out that the slowdown of financing will be the root of fewer real estate deals compared to the heydays before the credit crunch. If the deal goes through at $1.6 billion, it would mark the fourth-largest building sale in the U.S. The Observer said Citigroup had expected to fetch a figure upwards of $1.8 billion when it first put the building up for sale in September, but the credit crunch dampened any hopes of those expectations. — Gerald Magpily
See New York Observer article
See TheDeal.com: Eyes focused on new Citi CEO
See The Deal's M&A Outlook 2008 conference
