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LONDON (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. wants to throw a multibillion-dollar lifeline to British mortgage lender Northern Rock to help ease its funding crisis, a newspaper reported Sunday. Citigroup will offer loans to Northern Rock PLC for between $10.2 billion and $20.4 billion, The Sunday Times of London reported, without citing sources. Details of the loan would likely be announced this week, the paper said. Calls seeking comment from Citi and Northern Rock were not immediately returned. Citi was appointed alongside Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. to advise on the future of Northern Rock, which issued a profit warning on Sept. 14 and said it was asking for emergency funding from the Bank of England. Northern Rock's share prices plummeted 80 percent on the news, but on Wednesday rebounded 12 percent after reports that private equity firm J.C. Flowers had raised about $30 billion for a possible takeover. Northern Rock, the most public victim in Britain of the global credit crisis, said last week a number of different parties approached it about "a variety of potential transactions," including a takeover, and that it was in preliminary discussions.
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