Nikko Cordial Corp., Japan's third-largest securities firm, said Friday it will withdraw its shares from Tokyo Stock Exchange trading on Jan. 23, four business days before being absorbed by Citigroup Inc. in a stock swap.
In the swap deal, 0.602 of a Citigroup common share will be exchanged for each Nikko common share, Nikko said.
Citigroup's average volume-weighted share price didn't fall below $22 during the three days that ended Thursday, enabling the transaction to be completed at the agreed ratio, Nikko said in a statement to the exchange. Investors can trade shares of the 88-year-old brokerage until the Jan. 22 market close.
The biggest U.S. bank offered to buy Nikko last March after the Japanese brokerage fell afoul of regulators for padding earnings reports, a scandal that sparked a seven-week, 30 percent slide in its market value. Citigroup agreed to buy 61 percent of Tokyo-based Nikko for $7.7 billion in April, and later increased its stake to 68 percent.