The government's top bailout watchdog accused the Treasury Department on Monday of failing to rein in "excessive" compensation at AIG, General Motors and Ally Financial. Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or SIGTARP, says that the firms don't understand "their extraordinary situations."
The insurer, rescued by the U.S. government in 2008 with a bailout that ultimately totaled $182 billion, may now join a lawsuit against the government alleging the terms of the deal were unfair. The move would be something of a shock development given that AIG just launched a high-profile television ad campaign called "Thank you, America."
The Treasury Department said Tuesday that it has sold all its remaining shares of AIG, wrapping up the government's biggest bailout of the financial crisis. With this sale, the government has received $22.7 billion more than the $182 billion in support it provided to AIG during the crisis.
The U.S. government cut its stake in American International Group Inc to about 21.5 percent on Monday, making a profit of $12.4 billion on the insurer's crisis-era bailout and bringing the unpopular rescue closer to its end.
The U.S. government is selling more of its shares in insurer American International Group, in a move that should decrease its holdings below a majority stake for the first time since the $182 billion bailout in 2008.
AIG is on its way to eclipsing Bank of America as the turnaround story of 2012 as it prepares to report earnings after Thursday's close. Analyst bullishness and a New York Fed asset sale have shareholders pumped.
During the past month, AIG stock fell nearly 10% drop after an announcement that the government would sell some of its stake in the insurance giant. The Treasury's ownership in the company has declined from 92% to 77%, but the prospect of its future sell-offs are holding the stock down.
In a second attempt to sell its 97.6% stake in Nan Shan Life Insurance, a Taiwanese insurer, American International Group has agreed to a $2.16 billion deal with the Ruen Chen consortium. But regulators nixed another sale agreement just five months ago. Will this deal go through?
AIG, which wants to spin off its Taiwan-based Nan Shan Life Insurance unit, has a few live ones nibbling on the line to snap it up, according to a Bloomberg report. The company has disclosed in an SEC filing that Nan Shan has attracted unsolicited offers ranging from $2.15 billion to $3 billion.
Insurance giant American International Group on Wednesday signed an agreement with the government that details its plan to repay its government loans. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that the government plans to sell much of AIG's stock in the next few months.
Bailed-out insurance giant American International Group sold $2 billion of bonds in its first debt offering since it was rescued in 2008. The offering was an important test of whether investors think the insurer can stand on its own.
In a New York Times op-ed, billionaire investor Warren Buffett expressed gratitude for the U.S.'s swift action: "In this extraordinary emergency, you came through -- and the world would look far different now if you had not."
