American International Group Inc. is seeking to raise around $2 billion by selling more shares in AIA Group Ltd., its former pan-Asian life insurance unit, as it continues to repay the U.S. government bailout it received during the 2008 financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The U.S. insurer also said that it plans to buy back another $5 billion in stock from the U.S. Treasury. AIG has been aggressively buying back shares this year and is expected to buy more from the Treasury this fall, as part of a push that could make the U.S. government a minority shareholder before the November elections and enable the company to fully repay its bailout sooner than expected. The Treasury Department sold $5 billion worth of shares in AIG last month, its fourth sale so far, reducing the government's stake to 55 percent and bringing down the amount the government needs to recoup from the bailout to $25 billion.
