Mar 08 2010
AIG selling overseas business to rival MetLife
AIG is selling an overseas insurance business to rival MetLife for $15.5bn (£10.3bn), as it continues to raise funds to pay off a federal bailout.
MetLife is paying $6.8bn in cash and $8.7bn in shares for American Life Insurance Company (Alico), which operates in more than 50 countries.
The announcement comes a week after AIG agreed to sell its Asian business AIA to UK group Prudential for $35.5bn.
AIG is seeking to repay $182.3bn of loans from the US government.
The insurer was given an initial $85bn in September 2008 to prevent its collapse at the height of the turmoil in the global credit markets, subsequently
rising to $182.3bn.
AIG is also looking to repay a $9bn investment in the company made by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
MetLife is currently the largest life insurer in the US.
The purchase of Alico will boost its presence in Japan, the Middle East, Latin America, and central and eastern Europe.