Prospectus before Christmas and sell off next year
AIG will launch a $20bn initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong for its flagship Asian life assurance unit AIA in the New Year and use the cash to towards the $80bn it owes the US government, the FT reports.
AIA will file a draft prospectus with stock exchange authorities before Christmas triggering a formal three-month process that would set the path for a listing in the second quarter of 2010.
"AIA and its advisers are working round the clock to submit the filing before Christmas," said one person familiar with the matter. "Nobody involved wants this to hang around for much longer."
Under the deal with the US authorities, the first $16bn raised by AIG through the spin-off of AIA will go to the Federal Reserve, which has lent the insurer $42bn. The US Treasury has given AIG about $45bn.
