As shareholders, prospective buyers and competitors await American
International Group Inc.'s list of assets that it will sell, the
Financial Times on Sunday
reported
that the list may include at least 15 businesses.
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The FT, citing people
close to the situation, reported that AIG's board met in New York on
Sunday night to discuss "a radical plan" for asset disposals to help
pay off the Federal Reserve's $85 billion loan. The insurer, with the
help of its advisers J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and the Blackstone
Group LP, is believed to have drafted a list of 15 to 20 large businesses
that could be divested. An AIG spokesman declined to comment.
The
report echoed a number of other media and analyst reports in saying that the
most likely sales could be AIG's 59% stake in publicly traded reinsurer
Transatlantic Holdings Corp. and its aircraft leasing business
International Lease Finance Corp. The Transatlantic sale could include
a number of properties and private equity investments including a stake
in London's City Airport. Transatlantic announced Monday that it has
created a special committee of independent directors to evaluate AIG
proposals relating to the possible sale of the business. The special
committee has hired Lazard as its financial adviser, Fried, Frank,
Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP as its legal adviser and Potter
Anderson & Coroon LLP as its Delaware counsel.
The FT report
also said AIG could potentially sell a host of real estate properties.
AIG in its 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30 reported about $5.5
billion in real estate and other fixed assets, net of depreciation.
It
appears as if international buyers are already lining up for pieces of
AIG. Several investors, including the Yuchengco business group, have
expressed an interest in buying the Philippine unit of AIG, Philippine
American Life and General Insurance Co.,
Reuters reported Monday. Reuters concurrently
reported that Kazakhstan's largest insurer Eurasia made a formal offer to buy the local subsidiary of AIG for an undisclosed amount.
The sale list may take shape on an investor conference call AIG has schedule for Friday.
- Michael Rudnick
