Wells Fargo & Co. offered $15 billion for Wachovia Corp., setting up a contest with Citigroup Inc. for control of the embattled North Carolina lender.
Citigroup demanded Wells Fargo abandon the takeover, claiming it breaches an exclusive deal reached earlier this week in which the New York-based lender agreed to buy Wachovia's banking operations for $2.16 billion with government help.
Well Fargo's surprise offer for Wachovia, run by former U.S. Treasury official Robert Steel, may lead to a face-off with federal regulators and a bidding war with Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit. The bank may take legal action to block the deal, and a person with knowledge of the deliberations who also said Citigroup may increase its offer.