Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Don't tell the CPVPV*

New York Times processology on the resignation of Citibank CEO Charles Prince, a move that required winning over key Citibank shareholder Prince al-Waleed and his Kingdom Holdings company --

A week ago yesterday, Mr. Weill, Citigroup’s former chairman and chief executive, took the Citigroup jet to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to meet with Prince Walid. He flew there, according to a banking industry official briefed on the situation, to persuade the Saudi prince that it was time for Citi’s chief executive, Mr. Prince, to leave. Prince Walid called up Mr. Prince and told him about the conversation, this person said.

Michael S. Klein, the co-head of Citigroup’s investment bank, also headed to Riyadh on another Citigroup jet early last week with other bankers to celebrate the successful introduction of Kingdom Holdings, the prince’s publicly traded company.

At the home of Kingdom’s finance chief, a dozen or so bankers and Kingdom Holdings’ executives and directors sipped cocktails and enjoyed Middle Eastern foods while informally discussing the issue of Mr. Prince’s performance, according to people briefed on the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.


*Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice

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