The US government wants to sell shares in the Asian life insurance business to getback the bailout money
Tata Group, the India-based conglomerate, is contemplating to buy out US insurer, AIG from the Tata AIG Life Insurance joint venture – reported Economic Times. The talk of Tata purchasing a stake in AIG gathered momentum after the US insurer suffered heavy losses due to the global financial crunch, and subsequently got help from the government.
In the beginning, there were signs that AIG might part with its Asian life insurance units. Accordingly, Metlife, Prudential and France’s Axa evinced their interest to acquire parts of its life insurance business. However, as all of them have a presence in India through joint ventures, regulatory hurdles came in their way.
Recently, the US government decided to sell shares in the Asian business under AIA (an arm of AIG) through an IPO, with an aim to get back the bailout money it had pumped in the insurer. A Tata spokesperson said: It’s not clear which part of the life insurance business they are going to retain and fund through an IPO and which are the pieces they are looking to sell, reported the newspaper.