Citi Offers To Buy Back Lehman Notes Sold To Spanish Clients

8 Apr 2010

MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Citigroup Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to buy back structured notes created by Lehman Brothers and sold to clients in Spain that later became nearly worthless when Lehman went bankrupt.

The New York bank's Spanish unit, Citibank Espana SA, is offering 55% of the nominal value of the EUR78 million it sold in Lehman notes, according to a press release.
Hundreds of clients that purchased the securities from Citi sued the bank in Spanish courts on charges that it sold a high-risk product aggressively to retail investors without adequately explaining the risks.

"It was sold as an alternative to long-term deposits, as a secure financial product," said Jordi Ruiz de Villa, a partner at Barcelona law firm Jausas, who together with Madrid law firm Zunzunegui advised 122 clients in the case against Citibank.

Ruiz de Villa said the Lehman products have a market value of somewhere between 20% and 30% of their nominal value.

Citi isn't the only bank in Spain that sold these products. Last month, Bankinter SA (BKT.MC) was ordered by a Spanish court to compensate some of the clients that bought Lehman Brothers products through the bank. Bankinter has said it will appeal.
According to Jausas' Ruiz de Villa, Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.XE) and Credit Suisse Group (CS) are also facing lawsuits for the sale of similar products to Spanish clients.

-By Christopher Bjork, Dow Jones Newswires ; 34 91 395 8123;
christopher.bjork@dowjones.com

Source:
"News Citi Offers To Buy Back Lehman Notes Sold To Spanish Clients"from Morningstar
http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/201004080702DOWJONESDJONLINE000431_univ.xml