No sale, Citigroup’s Pandit says

A day after its stock plunged 26%, Citigroup Inc.’s chief executive Vikram Pandit emphasized his desire to keep the company in one piece during a conference call this morning with senior managers.

A day after its stock plunged 26%, Citigroup Inc.’s chief executive Vikram Pandit emphasized his desire to keep the company in one piece during a conference call this morning with senior managers.
He said there were no plans to sell Citigroup’s Smith Barney brokerage unit, according to a source who asked not to be identified.
Despite Citigroup losing more than half its market value during the past four days, Mr. Pandit attributed many of the New York-based firm’s problems to “rumormongering” and said that the company still has a strong capital position, the source said.
Citigroup has had four straight quarterly losses, (InvestmentNews, Oct. 16) and senior company officials have said that they will have to make a strategic change such as finding a merger partner or raising cash in the coming days, CNBC reported.
Some of the potential merger partners include The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, both of New York, as well as Boston-based State Street Corp., CNBC reported, citing investment banking sources.
A State Street spokeswoman declined to comment, as did a Goldman Sachs spokesman.
Calls to the press offices at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley weren’t immediately returned.
Citigroup’s struggles continued today with its stock down In mid-afternoon trading $1, or 21.23%, to $3.71.