In a move that we can only presume is to provide more room in their book for some GM Fleet purchases or Twinkie benefits, the US Treasury just announced (via Bloomberg):
- *TREASURY ANNOUNCES OFFERING FOR ALL OF ITS REMAINING AIG SHRS
but:
- *TREASURY SAYS IT WILL CONTINUE TO HOLD WARRANTS FOR AIG COMMON
AIG's share price is sliding (-3.5% AH) - surprise - as the decision to liquidate 234 million shares (10x the recent daily average) into such a highly liquid market will, we are sure, be spun as nothing but positive (and a great success for Geithner et al.). Of course, unwinding the even more illiquid warrants was not on the cards. Interesting timing following the sale of AIG's ILFC unit so close behind to the Chinese.
WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it has launched an underwritten public offering for all of its remaining 234,169,156 shares of American International Group, Inc. (AIG) common stock.
If the offering is completed, Treasury would continue to hold warrants to purchase AIG’s common stock that were also issued as part of AIG’s participation in Treasury programs.
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