AIG Clears $500 Million Blackstone Shares

According to foreign media reports, the USA Foreign Group (AIG) sold all its shares in the private equity giant Blackstone Group on March 2 with a total value of US$500 million. According to sources, the move is part of AIG’s ongoing sale of non-core assets to repay government bailout plans.

Affected by the sale of shares in Blackstone, AIG's share price rose 1% in the 2nd trading day, and Blackstone's share price fell 2.5%. In 2012, AIG's stock price has risen by nearly 30%, and Blackstone's share price has increased by 10%.

According to the data, AIG invested US$150 million in July 1998 to purchase 7% of Blackstone. In 2010, AIG converted 35.7 million Blackstone shares it holds into common stock and sold 10 million of them for a total value of US$134 million.

After the financial crisis in 2008, AIG received a huge bailout of US$182.3 billion from the USA government. At present, the Ministry of Finance of the United States still holds 77% of AIG's shares. To repay the bailout money, AIG has been seeking to sell non-core business, where Blackstone served as its consultant. So far, AIG has sold its life insurance business outside of USA, a retail bank, an asset management company and other parts of its business.

Thanks to huge tax incentives, AIG achieved a profit of US$19.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, a 77% increase from the same period of the previous year; AIG realized a profit of US$17.8 billion last year, an increase of 128% over the previous year.

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