Citi is keeping its Mexican banking unit Banamex. Sources told Reuters that Citi sees the Mexican bank as a solid business and has no plans to sell it.

In recent days, analysts and business columnists have speculated that leading businessmen in Mexico could be planning to buy Banamex as Citigroup tries to shed assets.

Telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, the world’s second wealthiest man, was widely seen as a potential buyer, but his spokesman told Reuters on Friday that he was not in talks to acquire the bank.

Banamex, the second largest bank in Mexico, will reside in Citi’s “good bank,” known as Citicorp. Banamex has both commercial and retail banking operations. Citi declined to comment.

Citigroup’s acquisition of Banamex for $12.5 billion in 2001 was the largest ever in Mexico at the time and was part of a wave of foreign purchases after an economic crisis devastated the bank sector in the mid-1990s.

DEALS OF THE DAY

Fiat’s founding family is weighing a capital increase of about 2 billion euros ($2.58 billion) with an eye to a possible merger with France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen, an Italian daily reported.

Korea Development Bank confirmed the collapse of a planned sale of Daewoo Shipbuilding but said it would consider various ways to put the world’s No. 3 shipmaker up for grabs again.

British software company Autonomy has agreed to buy U.S. group Interwoven for $775 million to boost its access to the worldwide legal and compliance industry.

BIC, the eponymous French maker of pens and lighters, said it was buying a 40 percent stake in India’s Cello Pens for 124 million euros ($160 million), giving it a foothold in the growth market. BIC could raise its stake to 55 percent in 2013, it said.

Troubled British fund manager New Star Asset Management is pushing ahead with restructuring plans, although it was still actively pursuing the sale of the company, it said.

Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen’s trading vehicle Geveran said it had raised its stake in gas shipper BW Gas to 5.3 percent, or 6.54 million shares.

Indian engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd was likely to present a revival plan to the board of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services, media reports said.

(Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)