I know AIG was like half a dozen freak-outs ago, but I was still happy to see in the WSJ this morning that the insurance company’s new CEO is talking about what’s next. Happy because I’m sure a lot of people with AIG policies want to know. Here’s an excerpt:
Edward Liddy, the new chief executive of American International Group Inc., said in an interview Thursday that he hopes to keep intact as many of the company’s largest insurance operations as possible in a publicly traded company, after selling assets to pay back a federal loan.
“There will be a company at the end of this,” he said. “It’ll be smaller; it’ll be a lot nimbler.”
“My game plan is not to liquidate,” he said. Mr. Liddy took the helm this week after the government stepped in to rescue the global conglomerate as it was facing a possible bankruptcy. The government agreed to lend AIG as much as $85 billion, and in exchange can effectively control 80% of the company. Proceeds from asset sales will be used to pay back the government.
New AIG chief Edward Liddy said he had ‘at most a four-week time frame’ to determine which businesses are core to AIG and which might be sold.
Mr. Liddy, 62 years old, who previously had run insurer Allstate Corp., called AIG’s insurance businesses “powerful.” He described the international and domestic property-casualty operations as a “keeper.” Along with the international and domestic life insurance and related operations, he said: “I’d like to keep as many of them as I possibly can.”
Still, he said he has yet to determine exactly which businesses he considers core to the company, which also has a consumer-lending arm, an aircraft-leasing operation and a financial-products unit. He said he plans “at most a four-week timeframe” for making determinations on asset sales. He possibly would announce deals in that period, he said.
The story also notes that any possible asset sales will be reviewed by a committee set up by state insurance regulators. The idea is to review deals to make sure policyholders don’t get the short end of the stick.
Barbara!