AIG Makes Another Divestiture: Confirms Sale of Otemachi Building

Sources close to embattled insurer American International Group confirmed that it has just sold its downtown Tokyo headquarters, the Otemachi Building.

Having previously said that it was trying to sell the building, there reportedly were at least two potential bidders, with the likely buyer being a Japanese insurance company. The price is expected to be about $1 billion, according to recent publicity.

AIG is trying to sell assets to pay off the $170 billion borrowed from the federal government's TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). The company has already sold, among other parts, its direct insurer 21^st Century, which competes with GEICO, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway.

The sale should help AIG CEO Edward Liddy in his testimony before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, which is likely to grill him on how quickly AIG can get out from under its obligation to taxpayers.

AIG recently reported a first quarter loss of $4.3 billion, down from a more than $60 billion loss in the fourth quarter.

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Ed Leefeldt

Ed Leefeldt is an award-winning investigative and business journalist who has worked for Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones, and contributed to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He is also the author of The Woman Who Rode the Wind, a novel about early flight.

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