AIG repays another $1.5 billion to Treasury Department

NEW YORK—American International Group Inc. has repaid $1.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department for its stake in a special-purpose company holding the shares of American International Assurance Co. Ltd., another step in repaying the government’s 2008 bailout.

With the $1.5 billion repayment to retire the government’s interest in AIA Aurora L.L.C., the government’s remaining stake in AIG is about $45 billion, AIG said Thursday in a statement.

The government authorized up to $182 billion to bail out the insurer in 2008.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York originally held preferred interests in AIA Aurora, but that was transferred to the Treasury Department in January 2011 as part of AIG’s recapitalization plan, according to the statement.

“This $1.5 billion payment is a milestone–it retires the Treasury’s interest in the AIA SPV and it reduces total outstanding assistance more than 75%,” AIG President and CEO Robert H. Benmosche said in the statement.