NEW YORK (AP) -
The U.S. government is selling more of its shares in insurer American International Group Inc. in a move that should decrease its holdings below a majority stake for the first time since the $182 billion bailout in 2008.
AIG says the Treasury Department is selling $18 billion worth of its common shares to institutional investors. The price is not yet determined.
AIG said it will buy back $5 billion worth of the shares.
The move should reduce the government's stake in AIG to less than 20 percent from about 53 percent now.
AIG, which is based in New York, nearly collapsed in 2008. It received $182 billion from the U.S. government -- the biggest of the Wall Street bailout packages -- after suffering massive losses from investments in derivatives.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
