AIG asset offload may take time, CEO says
Ed Liddy, chief executive of American International Group Inc., said the New York insurer’s asset sale might take longer than expected due to difficult markets, according to published reports.
Ed Liddy, chief executive of American International Group Inc., said the New York insurer’s asset sale might take longer than expected due to difficult markets, according to published reports.
“These are challenging times to undertake divestitures,” he said at a presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong today.
Mr. Liddy was there to speak with AIG employees and investment bankers commanding the sales of the company’s Asian insurance units.
The pace and order of AIG’s asset sales may change, and announcements on certain transactions may take at least a few months, he said.
Mr. Liddy also said that — at least in Asia — he does not expect to meet with suitors until January, according to Reuters.
He pointed out that International Lease Finance Corp., AIG’s Los Angeles-based aircraft leasing company, is one of the most attractive assets for sale and that there is “great” interest in the unit, according to Reuters.
In another report, AXA SA in Paris, MetLife Inc. of New York, Prudential PLC of London and China Investment Corp., a Beijing-based sovereign-wealth fund, have been in separate talks with AIG to buy American Life Insurance Co., which is headquartered in Wilmington, Del., insiders told Reuters.
The deal is likely to close next year and would probably fetch $10.8 billion.
MetLife and AXA want the unit’s global business, while Prudential wants to buy the Asian operations outside of Japan, the sources said in the report.
Meanwhile, CIC is looking for a partial stake in the company.
Prudential Financial Inc. of Newark, N.J., and Manulife Financial Corp. in Toronto, along with three other companies, are expected to bid on two Japanese AIG units, sources told Reuters.
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