Citigroup to Purchase 8.3% of Chinese Bank

Citigroup Inc. will pay about $112 million for 8.3% of China’s second-biggest publicly traded bank, its first such purchase in a country where it has operated for a century.

Citigroup’s Citibank unit agreed to pay 1.5 times the net asset value of the investment in Pudong Development Bank Co., said a general manager at Shanghai State-Owned Assets Operation Co., which owns the stake.

The purchase represents the fourth time China has allowed a foreign bank to buy a stake in one of its lenders. The acquisition is the latest effort by Citigroup Chairman Sanford Weill to expand in emerging markets.