National Australia Bank to buy Citigroup Australia consumer unit

Citigroup Inc has sold the first of 13 markets Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser put on the block, agreeing a deal to offload its Australian consumer unit to National Australia Bank.

The Australian lender will pay the US bank cash for the net assets of the Citigroup Consumer Business plus a premium of A$250 million ($184 million), according to a statement from National Australia Monday, Aug 9. The bank said its net assets totalled A$3.2 billion, taking the implied valuation as of June to A$3.45 billion. The required equity is approximately A$1.2 billion, National Australia said in the statement.

“As this transaction shows, we are moving forward with urgency as we refresh our strategy and execute the decisions we have already made as part of that effort,” Fraser said in a separate statement.