During the fourth quarter AIG (American International Group) posted its first profit in three quarters. The corporation posted $11.2 billion profit, compared with an $8.87 billion loss a year ago. Glad to see they are recovering, now about that bailout money….
Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche, 66, raised almost $37 billion last year selling American Life Insurance Co. to MetLife Inc. and divesting a majority stake in AIA Group Ltd. in a public offering. Benmosche is adding to reserves, hiring risk managers, and settling lawsuits and regulatory probes as he prepares the company for private ownership. The U.S. Treasury Department accumulated 92 percent of AIG’s stock and plans to divest its holdings.
“Some of the transactions resulted in larger gains than expected,” said Jonathan Hatcher, a Jefferies Group Inc. analyst in New York. The gains boosted capital and should make the company “feel a little bit more comfortable with the reserve additions that they needed.”
Shareholders’ equity, a measure of assets minus liabilities, rose to $85.3 billion from $80.8 billion on Sept. 30. The insurer booked $17.6 billion of gains on asset sales, including AIA and Alico.