Insurance giant American International Group has completed the deal under which it is getting an $85 billion (£45.9 billion) injection of US taxpayers' money.

The agreement provides the emergency loan for two years at an interest rate of about 11.5%. The US government could also take an 80% stake in the company.

AIG says it will repay the money in full with proceeds from the sales of some of its assets, with a list of those for sale due next week.

Chief executive Edward Liddy said the facility was "the company's best alternative", and AIG is "already developing a plan to sell assets, repay the facility and emerge as a smaller but profitable company".

He added: "Importantly, AIG's insurance subsidiaries remain strong, liquid and well-capitalised."

The sign-off of the deal is a blow to dissident shareholders, who have been trying to thwart the government takeover.

A lawyer for the group said earlier that the new management was co-operating in their bid to thwart a government takeover of the company.

Mickey Kantor of law firm Mayer Brown said that Liddy — appointed as part of the Federal Reserve's bailout package — and others at AIG "could not be more co-operative".

Kantor, who chaired the first meeting of shareholders who want to find other solutions to the crisis, said: "We think it is in the best interest of the company to put some plan in place."

Former chief executive Hank Greenberg, AIG's largest individual shareholder, has been coy about his involvement in the plan but has now thrown his support behind the investor group.

AIG would not comment but the New York Insurance Department — appointed to oversee AIG's insurance operations — said it would evaluate any proposal presented.