Four years after propping up American International Group with a $182 billion loan at the height of the financial crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday it has sold its remaining 15.9 percent stake in the insurer in a public offering that raised $7.6 billion.
The offering—which saw the government’s AIG shares priced at $32.50 apiece—is the latest in a series of transactions the government has undertaken to whittle away what at one point was a 92 percent ownership interest in the insurer. All told, according to Treasury, the AIG share sales have netted taxpayers a total profit of roughly $22.7 billion on a loan that many once viewed as a certain loss. Given that Treasury still holds warrants to purchase—and then sell—about 2.7 million shares of AIG common stock, that profit figure could climb even higher.
