Citigroup may sell to Chinese bank

CITIGROUP Inc may sell a stake to China Development Bank, Corriere della Sera reported, citing unidentified "sources" at the two companies.

The banks are in advanced talks and managers have met in the "past few days" in Europe and in "a capital of one of the Gulf states," the newspaper said. The companies are also considering an "industrial" alliance, Corriere reported. The talks, which started in December, were interrupted by a management reshuffle at Citigroup, the newspaper said. China Development, a policy bank that funds the nation's public works projects, is interested in Citigroup partly because it believes that market turmoil is subsiding and the risk of losses is now reduced, Corriere reported.