Mumbai: The first round of bidding for Citigroup Global Services (formerly known as e-Serve) which is Citi''s BPO biz- is likely to be over this week. IBM, Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Genpact, Infosys and private equity firms such as Blackstone and General Atlantic are vying to buy a stake in Citi''s BPO business.

However, Citi is likely to sell off over 50 pc stake in the BPO firm and may retain a part of the stake in the firm so it can not only get the benefits in case of a future listing but would also handhold the firm.

According to sources, one of the main reasons that the group is looking at bringing in a strategic partner is to bring down the overall costs and not monetising the stake.

The group is most likely to sell the operations to an operator who has experience in the field and would want a strategic partner in the firm. ADP and Genpact are said to be the front runners for the deal.

Citi which held 44.4 pc stake in the BPO company had delisted it in 2004 and accepted an exit price of Rs975 per share while delisting. At that price the company was valued at around Rs1,200 crore.

According to i-bankers the value of the company now would be at around $700 million. Citi globally has been on a major cost cutting spree and recently announced that it would cut 17,000 jobs on the back of a restructuring plan that is targeting billions of dollars in cost savings over the next few years.