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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
NEW YORK—AIG has named a new head for its Asian unit, AIA Group Ltd., and reportedly has chosen three underwriting banks to arrange an initial public offering for the unit.
AIG confirmed it has named Mark Tucker, former group chief executive of Prudential P.L.C., to head AIA Group Ltd., replacing Mark Wilson. Mr. Wilson announced in March 2009 that he was resigning from Prudential as of September, stating he had accomplished his goals.
The collapse of a deal for Prudential to buy AIA for $35.5 million reportedly was a major factor in tensions between AIG CEO Robert Benmosche and AIG Chairman Harvey Golub, which led to Mr. Golub's replacement by Robert S. Miller this month (BI, July 19).
AIG would not confirm a report that Deutsche Bank A.G., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley have been selected by AIG to arrange a Hong Kong IPO for AIA, perhaps as early as this year.
Kevin Ahern, a credit analyst with New York-based Standard & Poor's Corp., which left the unit's ratings unchanged, said Mr. Tucker's experience with the business, as well as with running a public company, are both positives, although AIA “has gone through a fair amount of changes” in terms of whether it would be sold or there would be an IPO.