Timetable for AIG asset sale could change

Hong Kong: American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the US government, said the timing of asset sales may change because of the global financial crisis.

"These are challenging times to undertake divestitures," said chief executive officer Edward Liddy at an American Chambers of Commerce lunch in Hong Kong yesterday. "It's quite possible that the pace and order of our divestitures will change."

AIG is selling businesses including life insurance, retirement services and an airplane-leasing unit to repay a $60 billion government loan, part of the rescue package that spared it from bankruptcy and gave the government a 79.9 per cent stake.

Liddy also said former chief executive Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg may have run AIG for too long.

Lawsuit

A New York judge said December 3 the insurance group can go forward with its lawsuit claiming Greenberg "misappropriated" millions of AIG shares.

AIG in March sued Greenberg and six other former executives alleging they took company stock held by an AIG affiliate, Starr International Co in 2005. The defendants seized control of the board of Starr, AIG's largest shareholder, and converted the firm to a private investment vehicle for their benefit, AIG claimed.