AIG names ex-Prudential head to run AIA

7/20/2010 12:40:02 PM

Mark Tucker, the British insurer's former head, will take over from Mark Wilson, the current chief executive of American International Assurance (AIA), AIG said in a statement.

It follows the collapse last month of Prudential's $35.5-billion (€27.5-billion) takeover bid for AIA, which Wilson had reportedly opposed.

The failure of the mega-deal forced AIG, which is seeking to repay billions of dollars in government bailouts that it was given during the economic crisis, to look again at a Hong Kong listing of AIA to raise fresh funds.

AIG said it would "proceed as soon as practicable" with the listing plan.

"After reviewing various options to monetize AIA's substantial value, we have concluded that an IPO is our best option," AIG Chief Executive Robert Benmosche said in the statement.

"Teams at both AIG and AIA have already done an enormous amount of very good work to prepare for an IPO, and we remain committed too ensuring that we execute this plan for the benefit of policy holders, distribution partners, shareholders, and US taxpayers."

Wilson's ouster marks a boardroom victory for Benmosche, who is fighting to bring to an end to the internal turmoil that has rocked the US insurer in recent months, according to the Financial Times.

The statement said that Tucker, who joined Prudential in 1986 and was its group chief executive between 2005 and 2009, had what it took to take a company of AIA's size public and turn it into "Asia's pre-eminent, publicly traded insurance company".

It added that Wilson and Tucker would work closely together to "support a smooth transition between now and the end of the year, at which time Mr Wilson expects to pursue other opportunities".

In another management shake-up at the US insurance giant, AIG last week named director Robert Miller its new chairman, following the resignation of Harvey Golub, who had clashed with Benmosche.

AIG aims to raise as much as $23 billion from share sales of AIA to strategic investors and to the public at a Hong Kong offering by late October or early November, Dow Jones said, citing people familiar with the situation.

The cash will go to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which holds a stake in AIA and has been AIG's top creditor since a federal bailout of the insurance giant in 2008.