Troubled US insurance giant American International Group (AIG) appears to have moved further into government ownership, agreeing to hand over stakes in two of its overseas units to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The move, reported by US wire services overnight, was said to be aimed at reducing the group’s central bank debt by US$25 billion.
The company announced that it would be placing its large non-US life insurance businesses — American International Assurance (AIA) and American Life Insurance — into special purpose vehicles with the aim of eventually selling shares to the public.
AIA operates in Australia as well as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
It had been originally intended to sell the entire units to buyers to help pay down its debt to the US Government after having been bailed out to the tune of around US$182.5 billion last year.
