US gov't reaps hefty profit from AIG bailout program

U.S. government has registered a profit of 22.7 billion U.S. dollars from its massive bailout plan for American International Group (AIG) during the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday. The Treasury Department has agreed to sell all of its remaining 234.2 million shares of AIG common stock at 32.5 dollars apiece in an underwritten public offering. The Treasury Department's aggregate proceeds from the common stock offering are expected to total approximately 7.6 billion dollars, the department said in a statement. "Giving effect to today's offering, the overall positive return on the Federal Reserve and Treasury's combined 182 billion dollars commitment to stabilize AIG during the financial crisis is now 22. 7 billion dollars," said the department. The latest sale is part of the Obama administration's ongoing efforts to wind down from the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), through which, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, committed a combined total of 182 billion U.S. dollars to stabilize AIG at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. That assistance proved effective in stopping a financial panic and preventing repeat of another Great Depression. The overall 182 billion dollars worth of taxpayer-financed rescue fund committed to stabilize the American insurance giant has also been fully recovered, according the Treasury Department.