The U.S. Treasury has finished selling a round of shares of American International Group Inc. worth $5.75 billion, AIG said Thursday.The transaction helped pay down AIG's debt to taxpayers, amassed through bailouts after the 2008 financial crisis. AIG, which received no proceeds from the transaction, said the sale reduces Treasury's ownership of the bailed-out insurance giant to approximately $29 billion, held in the form of 1.06 billion common shares of AIG.
The market value of the federal government's stake in AIG is about $34.07 billion based on Thursday's closing price.
The government offered shares of AIG this week at $30.50, a modest discount from their price when the offering was announced on Sunday. AIG purchased $2 billion worth.
It was Treasury's third sale of AIG stock. In May 2011, it sold $5.8 billion worth, and in March this year it sold $6 billion worth. The company purchased $3 billion of the March offering.
Treasury and the Federal Reserve stepped in with $182 billion to rescue New York-based AIG from collapse and stem the financial crisis. Treasury still owns about 61 percent of AIG's common stock, the company said.
Treasury's support for AIG came from the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Treasury estimates that the Fed and Treasury together have recouped all but about $44 billion of the initial $182 billion bailout.
Also on Thursday, AIG said Donald Layton has resigned from its board of directors effective at the beginning of AIG's annual shareholder meeting on May 16. He resigned because he was appointed CEO of Freddie Mac. He has served on AIG's board since 2010.