U.S. Treasury Reports that 1.5 Billion Share Sale Completed; Plans to Sell 1.5 Billion More

Dow Jones is reporting that The U.S. Treasury Department said it had received gross proceeds of about $6.2 billion from selling 1.5 billion in Citigroup Inc. shares C. The Treasury also plans to sell an additional 1.5 billion shares in the company. “Treasury, which took a 27% stake in Citigroup through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said it would continue to sell shares in the financial company "in an orderly fashion,"” reported Dow Jones. The second phase of the program, which will be being conducted by Morgan Stanley MS, should be completed by June 30. It is not set in stone that all 1.5 billion shares be sold. Based on the gross proceeds estimate, Treasury received about $4.13 per share during the initial phase of the program, well above the $3.25 share price it paid to acquire the 7.7 billion Citigroup shares through TARP.