US Treasury to sell $5 bn of AIG shares

The US Treasury Department announced Friday it will sell $5 billion of its American International Group shares, with AIG lined up to buy up to $3 billion of them. The Treasury said the common stock would be publicly offered at $30.50 per share, and that AIG had agreed to purchase 98.3 million shares at that price. AIG shares closed 1.6 percent higher at $31.34 in New York trade Friday, in an overall market rally following an upbeat US jobs report. The Treasury has been winding down the government's bailouts of companies during the 2008-2009 financial crisis that initially targeted banks but controversially were expanded to include insurance giant AIG and automakers. AIG, at the time the world's largest insurance company and closely involved in the risky derivatives at the center of the crisis, was rescued from bankruptcy by a record $182 billion government bailout program. AIG has sold off huge assets as it restructured itself back to a path of profitability, buying back taxpayer-funded shares along the way. The underwriters in the latest Treasury stock offering have a 30-day over-allotment option to purchase about 24.6 million additional shares of AIG common stock, the Treasury said in a statement. If the over-allotment option is not exercised, the Treasury said, the sale would reduce its remaining investment in AIG to $25 billion, and lower its stake from approximately 61 percent to 55 percent. On Thursday, AIG reported second-quarter profit surged 27 percent from a year ago to $2.3 billion, almost double expectations, while sales fell less than estimated. In the April-June quarter, AIG bought $2 billion of its shares from the Treasury and $6.1 billion in shares from the Federal Reserve. The Fed announced in mid-June that AIG had repaid its rescue loan.