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Sovereign funds bid for AIG aircraft unit
27 Jan 2009Embattled insurer American International Group is understood to have found potential buyers for its aircraft leasing unit.
Bids are said to have come from a range of investors including sovereign wealth funds in Singapore, China and the Middle East.
Among those interested in the business, International Lease Finance, are Singapore's Temasek, Dubai's investment arm Istithmar World, the Kuwait Investment Authority and China Investment Corp, insiders told Reuters.
Private-equity firms including Carlyle Group, TPG Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts are also said to be bidding.
While the timing of the auction for the unit, which could be worth as much as $8 billion (£5.8 billion), is unclear, the second round of bids is expected in the third week of February.
ILFC is one of the biggest customers of Airbus and Boeing and owns some $55 billion worth of planes.
AIG is working with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch to sell a fund management business that operates 15 funds with more than $12.4 billion in assets as of last September.
