Icahn Again Pushes for AIG Split in Wake of MetLife's Breakup Plan -- Update
January 19 2016 - 10:15AM
Dow Jones News
By Tess Stynes
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn again urged American
International Group Inc. to split up, citing MetLife Inc.'s recent
move to shed a chunk of its U.S. life-insurance business as well as
a recent poll of AIG shareholders showing a mandate for change.
In an open letter on his website, Mr. Icahn said he expects
AIG's strategic update, set for Jan. 26, will fail to present a
drastic strategic shift and instead will be limited to incremental
changes such as small-scale asset sales and incremental cost
cutting.
In response, AIG said it continues to take steps to narrow its
focus, improve its financial performance and return capital to
shareholders. The company also added it maintains an active
dialogue with shareholders, including Carl Icahn.
The activist investor also said AIG Chairman Douglas Steenland
suggested in a recent discussion that if shareholder wishes go
against those of the CEO, the board would definitely take
notice.
Last week MetLife said it was seeking to divest itself of a
large piece of its U.S. insurance unit to become small enough to
ease some of the capital burden it is expected to face under new
federal regulations that categorize it as a systemically important
financial institution, or SIFI.
AIG has been under pressure to split up since last year, when
Mr. Carl Icahn and John Paulson proposed breaking the global
insurance conglomerate into three separate companies as a way to
escape the SIFI tag.
AIG currently is one of three insurers designated as nonbank
SIFIs, subject to yet-to-be-determined capital requirements by the
Federal Reserve to insure they have thick cushions for absorbing
unexpected losses.
The recent survey by Sanford C. Bernstein stock analysts
evaluated investors' opinions on plans proposed last year by
Messrs. Icahn and Paulson, a divestiture program proposed by the
Bernstein analysts themselves, and AIG's existing initiatives.
AIG shares rose 1% in morning trading.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2016 10:00 ET (15:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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