American International Group (AIG) has sold a substantial part of its stake in People's Insurance Company of China Property & Casualty (PICC P&C).
AIG said that it had sold 256m shares in PICC P&C for around $500m. AIG still owns a further 1.2bn shares in the Chinese non-life company, which represent an 8.2% stake in it. As a condition of the sale AIG will not be able to sell any other PICC P&C shares until July.
In a statement on the sale Peter Hancock, president and CEO of AIG, said that the company was de-risking its exposure and enhancing AIG's financial flexibility. He added: "We will continue to seek mutually beneficial opportunities to broaden our strategic relationship with PICC."