American International Group Inc (AIG) won court approval of a US$970.5 million settlement with investors who accused the insurer at the onset of the financial crisis of misleading them about risks tied to subprime mortgages.
The investors, urging a federal judge to approve the accord, called it one of the largest securities class action recoveries stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.
AIG was sued that year by investors who said the New York-based company misstated its exposure to the subprime mortgage market through its securities lending program and its credit-default swap portfolio.
“It’s a great settlement and we are extremely gratified to have been able to achieve this result,” State of Michigan Retirement Systems lawyer Jeffrey Golan said on Friday in a telephone interview.
AIG, bailed out by the US government during the crisis, is to pay US$960 million while the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is to pay US$10.5 million, according to a Manhattan federal court filing.
Lawyers for the lead plaintiffs on Friday also won approval of almost US$116.5 million in legal fees, plus other litigation expenses, according to court filings.
US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain set a May 5 deadline for investors to submit claims under the agreement.
More than 40,000 have already been filed with the claims administrator in the case. The judge said at least 77 funds have opted out of the accord and might now sue independently, according to the court.
“We are pleased that the settlement has been approved by the court and look forward to putting this litigation behind us,” AIG spokesman Jon Diat said in an e-mailed statement.
A separate related suit was filed by former employees who claimed AIG invested their retirement funds too heavily in the company’s own stock. That case is still pending. In 2012, AIG repaid the bailout, which reached US$182.3 billion.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six