China Life may buy Asian assets of AIG

25-Nov-2008
China Life Insurance, the world’s biggest life insurer by market value, is interested in buying Asian assets of American International Group, a senior China Life manager briefed on the situation.
“We want to buy parts of AIG’s business, especially those in areas of Asia such as Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea,” the manager at the Beijing-based company
Chinese newspapers including the Southern Daily on Monday quoted China Life President Wan Feng as telling a media briefing the day before that the quality of AIG’s insurance business in Asia was good but needed further observation, as AIG’s financial condition might worsen.
AIG, once the world’s biggest insurer, is putting its non-essential businesses up for sale after receiving a $152 billion bailout from the US government to avoid bankruptcy as it was hit by the subprime debt crisis.
Japan’s Nikkei business daily reported on Friday that aconsortium led by China’s sovereign wealth fund, which includes Chinese insurers, is in talks to buy a 49 per cent stake in AIG unit Alico in a deal that could be worth up to $10.6 billion.
AIG’s preferential talks with the China Investment Corp-led consortium carry a year-end deadline, the newspaper said. China Life spokesman Li Ke and Shanghai-based AIG spokeswoman Annie Hou declined to comment.
Source : www.insuremagic.com