Senior Citigroup executives fear the world’s biggest financial services company could become the target of activist hedge funds that would press for it to be broken up, Financial Times reports.
The executives believe Citigroup needs to step up its investor relations and explain better to shareholders the value of keeping its businesses together.
Many have dismissed the possibility that Citigroup, valued at $260bn, could become an activist target. But one Citigroup executive said: “Even Citigroup is not too big. It’s not impossible.”
Concerns have heightened following the campaign by The Children’s Investment Fund, an activist investor group, to force the break-up of ABN Amro, the Dutch banking group. This has resulted in a bid battle between Barclays and a consortium of banks seeking to break it up.