(Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc. would weigh acquisitions to bolster high-priority businesses, even as Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock exits other units, the head of the company's commercial insurance operation said.
"We are very active in looking at any way to achieve growth, whether it's organic or inorganic," AIG Commercial CEO Rob Schimek said Monday in a conference in New York hosted by Barclays Plc. "I would say low billions, or hundreds of millions, is probably a range that I would consider" for a so-called bolt-on deal to strengthen one of his units.
AIG is seeking to highlight expansion opportunities, even as the focus for years has been on selling units, first to repay a U.S. bailout and then to simplify the insurer. Hancock said in January he would divest about $7 billion of assets to return capital to shareholders and concentrate on key businesses. Schimek said the insurer has plenty of scale, and that any potential takeovers would be to make key businesses more competitive.
"We have to just make sure that we're continuing to stay focused on the main objectives and not get distracted by too many small bolt-on acquisitions," he said. "We already have size and scale and depth and breadth of capability, and so I don't need to get bigger as my primary objective. I want to create more value. I want to be able to do things for our clients that no other insurance company in the world can do."
