US insurer AIG said its Asian unit AIA would likely book an annual operating profit of at least two billion US dollars as the subsidiary prepares to list in Hong Kong.
The Asian insurer would earn an operating profit that “is unlikely to be less” than two billion US dollars in the fiscal year ending November 30, AIG said in a statement at the weekend. Boosted by strong growth in Thailand and Korea, AIA’s insurance premium income climbed 11.3 percent to 9.32 billion US dollars in the nine months ended August 31, AIG said. Hong Kong accounted for the single-biggest share at 2.1 billion US dollars, up from 2.04 billion US dollars in 2009, according to the unaudited results.
Last week, AIG won approval for a Hong Kong share sale of its Asian unit next month, worth up to 15 billion US dollars, in what could be the world’s second-biggest initial public offering this year, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
AIG, which owes billions of dollars in US government bailouts, was forced to look again at the option of publicly floating AIA in Hong Kong after the collapse in June of Prudential’s 35.5-billion US dollar takeover bid.
The US insurer may sell off as much as half of its Asian unit with an investor roadshow to start on October 6 and the shares to be priced on October 21. Agricultural Bank of China claimed the world’s biggest IPO in August when it confirmed it had raised 22.1 billion US dollars, after its shares debuted in Hong Kong in July. The monster sale beat the previous world record set by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which raised 21.9 billion dollars in 2006.
Hong Kong, Sept 27, 2010 (AFP)
