Citadel's Griffin says he would be open to selling minority stake in his hedge fund

By Carolina Mandl

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Citadel's founder Ken Griffin said on Thursday that he would be open to selling a small stake in his hedge fund at some point in the future.

Griffin, at an event hosted by the Economic Club of New York, said it made sense for him to sell a minority stake in his market maker Citadel Securities to Sequoia and Paradigm in 2022, in a deal that valued the firm at $22 billion.

His comments come days after reports about BlackRock Inc in talks with Citadel's competitor Millennium for a potential tie-up, involving the acquisition of a minority stake in the hedge fund by the world's largest asset manager.

"We take great pride in being in a private partnership. It has served us well for 30 years," he said when asked about a potential consolidation in the hedge fund industry. Still, he said he "would be open to the possibility of selling a minority stake in Citadel at some point in the future."

When asked about what kind of partner he would engage with, he said venture capital firm Sequoia would be an example. "We would look for a partner that feels like Sequoia, that's going to push us to be better at what we do."

Griffin said the focus on Citadel Securities now is on the growth of the business and that an initial public offering should not happen "in the foreseeable future."

Griffin, a Republican supporter, criticized in a wide-ranging interview President-elect Donald Trump's plans for deportation of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, tax cuts and tariffs implementation, saying some of his policies could increase the U.S. deficit and make domestic companies less competitive and productive.

"We've got to put the fiscal house to order," he said.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York; Additional reporting by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Alistair Bell)