NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Citigroup (NYSE:C), the No. 1 U.S. financial services firm, said on Wednesday it will sell up to 20 percent of its Travelers Property Casualty unit to the public and spin off the rest to its stockholders by the end of 2002.
The initial public offering of Traveler's Property is expected to occur in the first quarter next year, the company said.
Citigroup said before the IPO, Travelers Property should declare a dividend of about $1 billion, to be paid to Citigroup during 2002.
Citigroup posted third-quarter results that included $502 million, or 10 cents per share, in after-tax losses related to property, business interruption, workers compensation, and life insurance claims.
In addition to Travelers Property Casualty, Citigroup's insurance operations include Travelers Life & Annuity, a major life insurance company. Travelers Property earned $1.4 billion in 2000, while Travelers Life earned $777 million, Citigroup said.
Citigroup units will continue to offer Travelers Property Casualty products.
The move comes despite Citigroup's reputation on Wall Street as an aggressive acquirer under the helm of Chief Executive Sanford "Sandy" Weill. Weill's financial services company Travelers Group Inc. merged with international bank Citicorp in 1998 in a $70 billion deal to form Citigroup.
Citigroup bought Mexican financial group Banacci for $12.5 billion this year and consumer lending firm Associates First Capital Corp. for more than $30 billion last year.
