Oct 21 (Reuters) - Citigroup ( C/PN ) is planning to

withdraw large amounts of lead from London Metal Exchange (LME)

approved warehouses in Singapore, four industry sources said, as

the bank seeks alternative rent-sharing deals.

Citi declined to comment.

The U.S. bank put a significant amount of lead on warrant -

a title document conferring ownership - in LME warehouses in

March this year specifically for rent deals or agreements that

allow warehouses to share rental income or fees with companies

that deliver metal to them.

Companies that deliver metal for rent deals do not have to

retain ownership of the metal, but they get a share of the rent,

paid by the new owners for as long as the metal stays in that

warehouse. Daily rent for lead in the LME's Singapore warehouses

is 51 U.S. cents a ton.

As of Monday, Singapore held all but 2,000 metric tons of

the 247,300 tons of refined lead - primarily used in lead-acid

batteries for vehicles - stored in the LME system, exchange data

show .

However, cancelled warrants - or metal earmarked for

withdrawal from warehouses - in Singapore had shot up to 170,750

tons as of Friday from just 49,025 tons on October 9

.

Cancelled warrants in Singapore account for nearly 70% of

the total amount of lead stored in that LME location.

Three of the sources said Citi was aiming to move the metal

out of warehousing firm Grafton's facilities in Singapore, which

were recently acquired by commodity trader Trafigura, a local

registration document shows. The document did not give a date

for when the transaction was completed.

Grafton and Trafigura declined to comment.

Two of the sources said Macquarie had also

cancelled some LME lead warrants in Singapore.

Macquarie declined to comment.

The sources declined to be identified as they are not

authorised to speak to the media.