The federal government may sell its remaining stake in American International Group by the end of the year, CEO Robert Benmosche said Friday.
"We think the Treasury will sell the remaining stake sometime this year," Benmosche said at a brokers' conference in Madrid.
He said, "Their lockup ends in November and the window opens up."
The conference was sponsored by BrokersLink, a group of international insurance brokerages. Benmosche was the keynote speaker at its annual conference.
"Our hope is they're gone," Benmosche said today. "If they're gone, that's fine, and if they're not gone, that's fine."
The Treasury Department has cut its stake in AIG from 77 percent to 16 percent through four public offerings this year.
It owned as much as 92 percent of the company after purchasing the interest of the Federal Reserve Board, which acquired 79.9 percent of AIG in September 2008 in exchange for an $85 billion credit facility needed to enable the company to meet margin calls demanded by holders of credit default swaps issued by the company to ensure mortgage-backed securities.
