Weill business
IT LACKS snob appeal. Associates First Capital is a little-known Texas-based finance company. But this week Citigroup agreed to pay $31 billion for it. Its three most attractive businesses can be described as: lending at high rates to low-income American borrowers; lending at extremely high rates to American credit-card borrowers; and lending at staggeringly high rates to Japanese borrowers. This works because its cost of finance benefits from a good credit rating. It will soon enjoy Citi's even better rating.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Weill business”
From the September 9th 2000 edition
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