BEIJING, (AP) – Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. financial institution, has won a yearlong bidding war by overseas suitors with a $3.1 billion bid for a majority stake in China’s Guangdong Development Bank, a Citigroup official said Thursday.

Guangdong Development Bank named Citigroup the preferred bidder to buy the stake and operate the mid-sized lender, said Robert Morse, chief executive of Citigroup Corporate Investment banking for Asia.

A consortium led by the U.S. banking giant will pay $3.1 billion for an 85.6 percent stake in Guangdong Development Bank, according to a statement issued at a signing ceremony in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

The bank is owned by the Guangdong provincial government.

Citigroup has been competing with a consortium led by Societe Generale SA of France for control of the 500-branch bank.