In a statement, Wall Street's biggest bank said they were exploring a "sale", "spin off" or "strategic partnership" for their physical arm. The Federal Reserve has been making hints that regulation may aim to separate banks' physical and financial commodity arms. This would overturn a 2003 ruling that enable Citigroup to retain all voting shares of Phibro (which incidentally they later sold in 2009 to Occidental Petroleum - formerly run by Ray Irani, a Lebanese-origin PhD chemist, who started his career in research for Monsanto).
Occidental paid $250m for Phibro, roughly the value of Phib's liquid assets.
Occidental paid $250m for Phibro, roughly the value of Phib's liquid assets.
