US insurance giant AIG announced Saturday the sale of part of its investment advisory and asset management business to a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Pacific Century Group for 500 million dollars. AIG said it would receive a cash payment of 300 million dollars under the agreement with Bridge Partners LP.
The units being sold to Bridge Partners operate in 32 countries and manage approximately 88.7 billion dollars in investments belonging to institutional and retail clients, AIG said in a statement.
AIG was the largest single recipient of US bailouts, with the government pumping more than 170 billion dollars into the firm in late 2008 to keep it afloat and taking a controlling stake in the group in the process. The company was on the verge of collapse last year after backing trillions of dollars in risky financial products amid a home mortgage meltdown that triggered financial turmoil.