MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican mining and transportation giant Grupo Mexico has submitted a binding offer to purchase Citi's retail unit in the country, known as Banamex, more than two years after it had scrapped previous plans to do so. Grupo Mexico said in a filing that the bid showed its "unwavering confidence" in the country and that such a purchase would once again make Banamex competitive among its peers. The firm, controlled by Mexican billionaire German Larrea, would purchase 25% of Banamex at 0.85x book value, and the remaining 75% at 0.80x book value, it said. Citi paid $12.5 billion for Banamex in 2001. The offer comes a week after local billionaire Fernando Chico Pardo, who chairs airport operator ASUR, tied up a deal for a 25% stake for $2.3 billion. Talks for Grupo Mexico to buy Banamex fell through in 2023, with sources telling Reuters that tensions with the administration of then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led the two sides to abandon the deal. (Reporting by Kylie Madry, Editing by Natalia Siniawski)
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