MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Grupo Financiero Inbursa is still in the process of buying Citigroup’s Mexican retail bank unit and is inviting other business partners to join the bid, Inbursa’s Director of Investor Relations Frank Aguado said Wednesday.
The comment, made during a conference call discussing its second-quarter results, comes days after Spain’s Banco Santander said it had dropped out of the process to buy Citibanamex, having submitted a non-binding offer earlier this year.
“We need to see if it’s a good price and if it is right for the strategy we have to lower our costs,” Aguado said, adding that Inbursa was still studying the transaction and had not decided on the final acquisition structure.
Aguado also said the outcome of its Citibanamex bid would impact plans for its previously announced spinoff, which it said earlier this year would be used to expand Inbursa’s investment portfolio and would be publicly traded.
Shares in Grupo Financiero Inbursa, controlled by the family of mogul Carlos Slim, were down more than 4% during the conference call.
(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Isabel Woodford; editing by David Evans)
