Group bids $150 million for Aeromexico

Subsidiary of Citigroup bids for majority stake of Mexican airline; Aeromexico says it will reply within 10 business days.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican airline company Consorcio Aeromexico SAB said Friday that a trust run by a unit of Citigroup has launched a $150 million tender offer for the company's shares.

Aeromexico said its board of directors will issue its opinion on the latest offer no later than 10 business days. The board had already endorsed an earlier offer from other local investors as "reasonable from a financial point of view."

The trust run by Citigroup's (Charts, Fortune 500) local banking unit Banamex is offering 1.68 pesos (15 cents) a share for between 50.1 percent and 100 percent of Aeromexico's 992.4 million shares, the airline said in a filing with the local stock exchange.

The offer is open until Oct. 15 and could be extended until Nov. 30. Banamex's brokerage unit is acting as the intermediary in the transaction.

Flying Southwest? Reconsider that miniskirt

The trust's bid was first announced Sept. 12, and represents a 53 percent premium over the 1.10 pesos (10 cents) a share offer made last month by local businessmen Moises Saba Masri and Alberto Saba Raffoul.

Both offers would be contingent on the Mexican state selling some or all of its 62 percent stake in Aeromexico. The government has said that it would sell the shares through a public offer unless a buyer emerged