Institutional demand for American International Group's $15 billion initial public offering for AIA, its Asian life insurance unit, is so strong that AIG may close it to institutional buyers two days earlier than planned.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Thursday that it has sold all of the trust preferred Citigroup shares it held for a net profit to the taxpayer of $2.246 billion. In addition, Treasury also announced it sold 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup common stock, according to a plan announced in July, lowering its stake in the bailed out bank from 18% to 12.4%.
After months of planning, AIG announced Thursday that it had entered into an agreement with the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York about how it will repay in full its obligations to the U.S. government and regain its independence.
American International Group is laying the groundwork for its first debt offering in two years, an offering that could be a key test of whether investors think the insurance giant can stand on its own and ultimately repay U.S. taxpayers for its bailout.
In a response to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Goldman said it priced AIG's collateral on the best available market information.
Former AIG executive Joseph Cassano, who led the insurer's ill-fated CDS unit, says he has no idea why the government paid full price to cover AIG's swaps, asserting that he could have "negotiated an appreciably better deal" for taxpayers.
