Citigroup bail out its SIVs

--Citigroup Inc. will take over seventroubled investment funds and assume $58 billion of debt to avoidforced asset sales that would further erode confidence in capitalmarkets. Moody's Investors Service lowered the bank's creditratings. --Citigroup didn't give details of how it will finance the assets other than to say it will provide a ``support facility''that will be in place early next year. Junior-ranking SIVcreditors will still bear the risk of first losses on the assets, the statement said. Citigroup's ``credit exposure under its facility is substantially limited,'' the statement said. -- Citic Ka Wah Bank Ltd., a unit of China's biggest state-owned investment company, is among the lower-ranking investors inCitigroup's Beta Finance Corp. and Five Finance Corp. SIVs. --Citigroup Tier 1 ratio will drop by 0.16percentage point from 7.32 percent as of Sept. 30