Treasury to sell some AIG stock

{mosads}Between the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a total of $182 billion in bailout funds were pumped into the ailing insurance giant, which was at the epicenter of the financial crisis. After the upcoming stock sale, the government’s stake in AIG will have shrunk to about $39 billion — 21 percent of the original bailout.

However, the government retains a majority of shares in the company, even after the stock sell-off. The government will hold 63 percent of the company’s shares after the public sale is completed.

As part of that sale, AIG itself has agreed to purchase 65.5 million shares for a total of $2 billion.

If the sale goes through as planned, the Treasury should reap a small profit on the deal. According to the official government-bailout watchdog, the Treasury had estimated at the beginning of the year that it would need to sell the 1.5 billion AIG shares it had for $28.73 per share to break even.