AIG may sell Japanese headquarters for $1 bn: WSJ

Beleaguered insurance firm American International Group (AIG) is close to selling its Japanese headquarters for about $1 billion, a media report says.

Quoting people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal stated that "AIG is close to selling its Japanese headquarters for about $1 billion, in a deal that would mark one of the largest divestitures the insurance company has made to pay off its government debt".

The report added that at least two suitors had been vying for the property, but the expected buyer is a Japanese insurance company.

However, the exact timing of a deal was unclear because of the Golden Week holidays in Japan, where markets would be closed until May 6. AIG had put the Tokyo building on the market in February.

The WSJ report stated that AIG owes the US government about $45 billion as part of a rescue package that could total as much as $173.3 billion.

The sale of the 15-story headquarters, which is adjacent to the Imperial Palace, would serve as a reminder of the AIG dwindling influence in  Asia, where the insurer was long viewed as a symbol of US economic might, it added.

Meanwhile, former AIG Chief Executive Maurice Greenberg, who led the insurer for nearly 40 years, has warned against selling the building, as the sale would hit the morale of its Japanese employees.