AIG to repay US$4b in loans

In its single biggest repayment of bailout loans so far, American International Group Inc said Monday it is paying back nearly US$4 billion in taxpayer aid with proceeds from a recent debt sale.

The insurer's aircraft-leasing company, International Lease Finance Corp, completed the sale of US$4.4 billion in debt.

AIG will use more than US$3.9 billion of the proceeds to repay the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, trimming the balance on its credit line with the Fed to about US$15 billion.

Adding interest, the total is about US$21 billion.

The emergency credit line was part of a US$180-billion federal-bailout package that New York-based AIG received during the financial crisis to avoid collapse. AIG has been selling off assets to pay back the aid.

"This is continuing tangible evidence of AIG's progress in repaying the American taxpayers," said Robert Benmosche, AIG President and CEO.

"AIG is getting stronger every day. We still have more work to do but we will finish the job and make sure we repay the American taxpayers."

Los Angeles-based ILFC leases one of the world's biggest commercial-jet fleets. It struggled earlier this year to pay off its loans and had to draw the US$3.9 billion from AIG to pay back some of its debt.

AIG had tried to find a buyer for the unit, but any sale seems off the table for now as ILFC has found healthy demand for recent bond offering which will help it meet some deadlines for paying back loans.

The repayment will release about $10 billion of collateral that ILFC had pledged to the Federal Reserve under the credit agreement. With the recent debt sales and other notes issues, the aircraft unit has boosted its total liquidity - assets that can quickly be converted to cash - to more than US$12.5 billion over the last five months.

The offerings "are a direct reflection of our company's viability and future prospects as a leader in leasing aircraft to the world's airlines," said Henri Courpron, ILFC's CEO.

He noted that the company has more than US$13 billion in aircraft orders.

Separately, AIG said it will book a pre-tax charge of about US$650 million against its earnings due to the repayment.

In morning trading, shares of AIG rose 52 cents to US$35.69. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of US$21.54 to US$55.90.

- AP