US to sell rest of AIG stock, ending $182 bn rescue
blamed for the company's financial distress at that time.
It prompted Republican lawmaker Charles Grassley to call for AIG executives to resign or commit suicide, though the Iowa senator eventually backtracked from those comments. The company also funneled over $90 billion of taxpayer money - more than half the funds the government used to rescue AIG - to various European and Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Barclays Plc.
BENMOSCHE GETS CREDIT
Robert Benmosche, the former CEO of MetLife, took over as CEO of AIG in August 2009, replacing Edward Liddy, who had been installed by the U.S. government. He will ultimately get the lion's share of the credit for turning the company around and preventing a fire sale of its assets. Benmosche salvaged some of the company's businesses, defended the company's employees against their detractors and figured out a path forward that would let the company both repay the government and stay in business. In September, he said the company may be in a position to consider a dividend by next summer. "It was an ugly process," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist with Potomac Research Group, but he added:
"Bottom line is that the government made money." In a statement on Monday, the Treasury said it launched an
underwritten public offering for AIG's remaining 234.2 million shares of common stock.
At Monday's closing share price of $33.36, the stake would be worth some $7.81 billion.
Treasury said that the sale, which is expected to price imminently, would be jointly led by
Be the first to comment.
