AIG Offered As Much As $3 Billion for Nan Shan Unit

Regulators in November were told by American International Group Inc. (AIG) that insurer was offered as much as $3 billion for its Taiwanese life insurance unit.

Source: Source: WSJ | Published on January 5, 2011

Since 2009, AIG has been trying to sell the unit, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co., to help repay a bailout it got from the U.S. government. An earlier attempted sale of Nan Shan for $2.15 billion was scuttled when Taiwanese regulators objected to the buyer. AIG is expected to announce a new preferred bidder soon.

The information about the purchase price came to light in a letter written by AIG to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The letter, dated Nov. 12, says prospective buyers have offered between $2.15 billion and $3 billion.

That range matches the one given by a Taiwanese lawmaker to Dow Jones last month. The letter to the SEC was reported earlier Tuesday by Bloomberg News.

AIG was responding in the November letter to an inquiry from the SEC asking about its quarterly filing of financial results. The regulator had asked AIG to explain why it thought it could still get a purchase price that approximated the price it had earned in the earlier attempt to sell the company.