NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Insurer MetLife is buying Travelers Life & Annuity from Citigroup, along with most of Citigroup's international insurance businesses, for $11.5 billion.

The company said the businesses being acquired by MetLife had 2004 revenues of $5.2 billion and net income of $901 million. Citigroup will receive between $1.0 billion to $3.0 billion in MetLife stock and the rest of the purchase price in cash. Citigroup expects to post an after-tax gain of about $2 billion from the deal.

Shares of MetLife (Research), one of the nation's most widely-held stocks, rose slightly in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Dow component Citigroup (Research) gained 1.5 percent.

The Wall Street Journal said earlier Monday that an announcement was expected within a matter of days, although the negotiations could still come apart.

Consolidation within the life insurance industry has been widely predicted, the article said.

Anticipating this, Citigroup reasoned that it would be more prudent to sell its unit at an attractive price than to take on the responsibility of consolidation itself, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.