AIG Moves On Asia Life IPO

By Arthur D. Postal

May 18, 2009 at 08:00 PM

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WASHINGTON — American International Group Inc. says it will speed up efforts to spin off its Asian life insurance operations.

AIG, New York, has been serving Asia for 90 years.

The unit to be spun off, AIA Group, Hong Kong, will have its own board and management team, AIG says.

AIG has hired the Blackstone Group L.P., New York, the global financial advisor for the AIG restructuring program, to be the advisor for the AIA offering.

AIA sells life insurance, retirement planning services, accident and health insurance, and wealth management products.

The business has 20,000 employees, 250,000 agents, 20 million customers, about $60 billion in assets, and operations in Australia, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. The operations in China include units in Hong Kong and Macau.

AIG will apply for regulatory approval to put the Philam Group of Companies of the Philippines and ALICO Taiwan in the AIA Group, AIG says.

The spinoff is subject to "market conditions and subject to regulatory approval," AIG says.

AIG first announced concrete plans for the AIA spin-off March 2.

"We continue to consider all strategic options through a robust, structured and disciplined process," says AIG Chairman Edward Liddy. "At this stage, we believe that a public listing for AIA would be in the best interests of all stakeholders, including U.S. taxpayers, policyholders, employees and distribution partners."

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