The U.S. Treasury is selling its remaining stake in insurer American International Group Inc., bringing an end to government ownership of the company about four years after a $182 billion bailout, Reuters reported today. The sale will close the chapter on one of the most politically contentious government rescues of the global financial crisis and turn a profit for taxpayers, which was once thought to be inconceivable. At one point, the government estimated that it would never recover all of the bailout money, but as AIG restructured and returned to viability, it was able to repay the entire rescue fund plus generate a profit for U.S. taxpayers. "No taxpayer should be pleased that the government had to rescue this company, but all taxpayers should be pleased with today's announcement, ending the largest of the government's financial industry bail-outs with a profit to the Treasury Department," said Jim Millstein, the Treasury's former chief restructuring officer. AIG was rescued just before it would have been forced to file for bankruptcy protection in September 2008 as losses on risky derivatives mounted. It was bailed out as the world's financial system stood at the brink of disaster, shortly after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America Corp. The Treasury said Monday that it launched an underwritten public offering for AIG's remaining 234.2 million shares of common stock. The Treasury shares were priced at $32.50, which represents a 2.6 percent discount to AIG's Monday close of $33.36; it is estimated that the sale will raise $7.61 billion.
