AIG to sell ILFC to management group next year

MONTERREY: American International Group, the insurer bailed out by the US, will sell its plane-leasing arm International Lease Finance to a group of investors and the unit���s management by early next year, an executive said.

���We���re in the process of selling ILFC to a group of investors including management that will take back the company from AIG,��� Steven Udvar-Hazy, the unit���s founder and chief executive officer, said ON Saturday at an aviation conference in Cancun, Mexico. He suggested the unit had a value of about $10 billion and didn���t identify the investors.

���Early next year, we will consummate the closing,��� he said in an interview. ���One thing is to reach a deal. It���s another to close the deal.��� Udvar-Hazy���s comments confirm his involvement in the purchase and the time frame for a sale of ILFC, one of the biggest buyers of commercial jets from both Boeing and Airbus. The US government took a controlling stake in AIG as it rescued the insurer with an infusion of capital on September 17, and authorities decided to sell all units that aren���t related to insurance business.

ILFC will separate from AIG, which bought the airline-leasing company in 1990 for $1.3 billion, because of financial losses caused by a small AIG unit that engaged in ���very high risk-profile business���, Udvar-Hazy said.

AIG rose 11% to $1.60 on Saturday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 97% this year. Nicholas Ashooh, an AIG spokesman, didn���t immediately respond to a telephone message left with him. Udvar-Hazy implied that ILFC has a value of about $10 billion. He said that AIG���s market capitalisation, not counting the stake of almost 80% owned by the government, is less than $5 billion or ���a little more than half of ILFC���s value.���