AIG Inc has dropped plans to sell two Japanese subsidiaries, according to a published report, deciding the company will derive more value from holding on to them.
The struggling insurer announced a year ago it would sell three of its Japanese life insurance businesses to help pay off an US$85 billion government loan that helped keep it from collapsing as the credit crisis deepened.
But with the company’s financial picture improving and few viable buyers coming forward, AIG says it will hold on to AIG Star Life Insurance Co and AIG Edison Life Insurance Co, according to a report posted on the Wall Street Journal’s Web site on Saturday.
AIG is still considering a sale or a spinoff of a third subsidiary, Alico Japan.
“I have come to believe that we can obtain the greatest value for AIG Star and AIG Edison by continuing to operate and grow these companies as part of AIG,” CEO Robert Benmosche told the Journal.
The company signaled in August that it would not rush into sales, revealing in a securities filing that it intends to “maximize the value of its businesses over a longer time frame.”
That came as AIG was reporting its first quarterly profit since 2007.
Separately, the New York Times reported that an AIG policyholder in California has asked a judge for an injunction that would bar the company from moving assets there out of the state, potentially disrupting AIG investments elsewhere.
The policyholder, Linda Harris, is also a financial planner who had recommended AIG annuities to clients before the company’s financial woes came to light last year, the Times reported.
In a filing on Friday in California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles, Harris said AIG “continues to engage in unlawful, fraudulent and unfair business practices.”
The Times reported that AIG spokesman Mark Herr said, “We believe that there is no merit to the motion, and we will continue to defend ourselves against these spurious assertions.”
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS