Citigroup to sell its 8 million remaining shares of Primerica

Citigroup Inc., the third-biggest U.S. bank, will sell its remaining stake in life insurer Primerica Inc. as Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit completes the bank’s exit that started almost two years ago.

Citigroup will sell about 8 million shares in a public offering, the Duluth, Georgia-based insurer said today in a statement. Primerica last month agreed to buy back 8.92 million shares held by New York-based Citigroup for $22.42 a share, or about $200 million.

Pandit has been reducing the bank’s stake in Primerica since selling a portion in a March 2010 public offering. Pandit, 54, included the firm among more than $600 billion of businesses and assets he wanted to sell or wind down after Citigroup took a $45 billion bailout from taxpayers in 2008.

Primerica fell 13 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $23.22 yesterday in New York trading. The shares have fallen 4.3 percent this year. Citigroup dropped 5.4 percent to $27.22, bringing its decline for the year to 42 percent.