Citigroup Girds for Wachovia Takeover Battle With Wells Fargo

By David Mildenberg and Josh Fineman

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., hobbled by $61 billion of subprime-related losses, now faces its biggest takeover battle in a fight with Wells Fargo & Co. for control of Wachovia Corp.

Citigroup fell as much as 21 percent yesterday in New York trading after Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. bank on the West Coast, agreed to acquire all of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia for $15.1 billion. The bid trumped Citigroup's government-backed offer of $2.16 billion for Wachovia's banking operations.

``The taxpayer doesn't pay a penny'' for the Wells Fargo deal, Wells Chairman Richard Kovacevich, 64, said yesterday in an interview. His company's bid is superior to Citigroup's also because it's a higher price and the combining banks ``share similar cultures and values.''

Citigroup Girds for Wachovia Takeover Battle With Wells Fargo....