Citi rejects Grupo México’s US $9.3B offer to buy Banamex

Citigroup announced Thursday that it had rejected an connection from Mexican conglomerate Grupo México to acquisition the slope Banamex.

Last Friday, Grupo México, a mining, transport and infrastructure conglomerate headed up by Mexican billionaire Germán Larrea, made a US $9.3 cardinal unsolicited connection for Banamex.

Grupo México seeks to get up to 100% of Banamex from Citigroup

On Thursday, Citi said successful a connection that “after cautious information of the proposal, including but not constricted to fiscal considerations and transaction certainty, we person advised Grupo México that Citi rejects the offer.”

“We firmly judge that the transaction we announced connected September 24, 2025 and the planned IPO volition let america to implicit the divestiture of Banamex successful a liable mode and maximize worth for our shareholders,” said Citi, a New York-based multinational concern slope that purchased Banamex for $12.5 cardinal successful 2001.

On Sept. 24, Citi announced that “a institution wholly-owned” by Mexican businessman Fernando Chico Pardo “and members of his contiguous family” had agreed to acquisition a 25% involvement successful Banamex for astir $2.3 billion.

The U.S. slope announced past December that it had completed the separation of retail slope Banamex from its organization banking concern successful Mexico arsenic it prepared to database Banamex connected the banal exchange.

On Monday, Citi said that it remained “committed to realizing the afloat worth of Banamex for our shareholders, and the statement we announced with Fernando Chico Pardo and the projected IPO continues to beryllium our preferred way to delivering that outcome.”

It said astatine the clip that it hadn’t received Grupo México’s offer, but committed to reappraisal it successful a “responsible manner.”

Ernesto Torres Cantú, manager of Citi International, Mexican businessman Fernando Chico Pardo and Manuel Romo, CEO of Grupo Financiero Banamex. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)

Citi’s IPO, oregon archetypal nationalist offering, of Banamex shares volition hap connected the Mexican Stock Exchange, astir apt sometime successful 2026.

Reuters reported that shares successful Grupo México climbed much than 4.5% connected Thursday aft Citi announced that it had rejected the conglomerate’s connection for Banamex.

The quality bureau reported that quality of Grupo México’s $9.3 cardinal bid for the slope had “rocked section markets, wiping disconnected billions successful the firm’s marketplace capitalization.”

Grupo México considered buying Banamex much than 2 years ago

Grupo México’s astonishment bid past week to acquisition Banamex came much than 2 years aft it backed distant from erstwhile negotiations to bargain the bank.

In precocious 2022, Grupo México was reported to beryllium successful precocious talks astir a imaginable acquisition of the bank.

In February 2023, Reuters reported that the conglomerate had secured US $5 cardinal to bargain Banamex. However, Citi said successful May of that twelvemonth that it would question to merchantability Citibanamex connected the banal market, ending conjecture that a merchantability to Grupo México was imminent.

Citi CEO Jane Fraser said astatine the clip that the slope concluded that “the optimal way to maximizing the worth of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our extremity to simplify our firm” was to “focus solely connected an IPO of the business.”

Citi archetypal announced its volition to exit the retail banking abstraction successful Mexico successful aboriginal 2022.

With reports from Reuters