Incoming AIG Chief Executive Peter Zaffino says his company is working “purposefully and with a sense of urgency on several fronts” related to a 19.9% sale of its Life and Retirement business.
In a Q4 earnings call Zaffino said he was pleased with the level of interest quality of potential partners for Life and Retirement business and believe a sale of a minority stake could be an attractive option for AIG, its shareholders, and other stakeholders.
Concurrently, the CEO of retirement services company Athene has told Reuters his firm has expressed interest in buying a 19.9% slice in the AIG business.
“I have no idea what will happen and whether we’re in the mix or not, but we’ve expressed interest and we’ll see what happens,” Athene CEO Jim Belardi said.
Zaffino added that AIG is carefully weighing the relative merits of this path compared to a minority IPO taking into account the impact on value creation for AIG, execution certainty, regulatory and rating agency implications, and delivery of Life and Retirements’ growth strategy over the long-term.
“As you know, any decisions we make will be subject to regulatory approvals,” he said.
“Overall, I am very pleased with the progress we are making on the separation and we’ll provide a further update in the near term.”
Update: Interestingly, Athene filed a clarification late last week to say that, “As of February 17, 2021, Athene Holding Ltd. and American International Group, Inc. are not in discussions regarding a transaction involving an AIG business unit.”
Which suggests that while an approach may have been made, no formal discussions have occurred.
