AIG, Chinese group still in talks on $4.8 billion ILFC deal: sources

HONG KONG/NEW YORK | Thu Aug 1, 2013 11:12pm EDT

HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. insurer American International Group Inc (AIG.N) is still in talks about selling its aircraft leasing unit to a Chinese consortium after missing a July 31 deadline to close the $4.8 billion deal, sources said.

AIG and the Chinese group are now aiming to close the deal by mid-August, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the situation.

Both parties had the option to shelve the deal if it did not close by July 31.

AIG said on Thursday that as of August1, it had not received payment and the deal had not closed.

AIG is keeping all options open, including selling to a new buyer or an IPO of the business, one of the sources said.

The sources declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential. An AIG spokesman and a spokeswoman for the Chinese consortium declined to comment.

The Chinese buyers' consortium, which has missed earlier deadlines, includes P3 Investments, New China Trust Co, one-fifth owned by Barclays Plc (BARC.L), and China Aviation Industrial Fund.

It struck a deal with AIG late last year to buy its International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC) unit for $4.8 billion.

ILFC is one of the biggest aircraft lessors in the world but has recorded big write-downs in recent years on the value of the older planes in its fleet. The agreed sale price is roughly half of what AIG once said the business was worth.

(Reporting by Clare Baldwin and Lawrence White in HONG KONG and Lauren Tara LaCapra in NEW YORK; Editing by Denny Thomas and Miral Fahmy)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/02/us-aig-ilfc-idUSBRE97105E20130802?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

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