Bailed-out US insurance giant AIG on Monday said it will sell its prime Japanese headquarters in Tokyo to Nippon Life, Japan's largest insurer, for 1.2 billion dollars in cash. American International Group, which is trying to sell off assets to repay a massive US government bailout, said it had agreed to sell approximately 0.4 hectare (one acre) of land in Tokyo on which The AIG Otemachi Building in Tokyo is located for 115.5 billion yen (some 1.2 billion dollars).
Nippon Life Insurance Co, known as Nissay, won the "competitive bidding process" for the prized property in central downtown Tokyo's high-rent business district which is next to and overlooking the inner moat of the Imperial Palace. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter, AIG said in a statement.
"This is a significant transaction because of the prominence and unique nature of the property and the highly attractive value that both AIG and Nippon Life Insurance Company are realising through the transaction," said Edward Liddy, AIG's chairman and chief executive. "AIG is pleased to effectively monetize this asset within the context of its restructuring effort," he said.
Liddy noted that AIG had reached agreement or closed more than a dozen deals in the past several months "despite a very challenging economic environment," and was pursuing other transactions in its government-controlled restructuring. The US government has pumped more than 170 billion dollars into AIG to keep it afloat, the largest single recipient of federal bailout money.
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