Splitsville for AIG + Blackstone?
All the way back in 1998, AIG invested $150 million for a 7% stake in Blackstone Group. The stake was supposed to be valued at $1.35 billion over an undisclosed period of time. At the time of Blackstone’s IPO last year, that stake grew to nearly $2 billion, according to an AP report. Separately, AIG agreed to commit around $1.2 billion in various Blackstone funds. The point was to formalize AIG's relationship with the fund via former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg.* Now Greenburg has been ousted at AIG (replaced by a buyout pro no less), and anyways, the insurer may need to liquidate that stake. Ironically, the same 1998 press release that announced AIG’s investments in Blackstone also announced a termination of a longstanding LP relationship, triggered by a different financial crisis. Blackstone lost its commitment from Nikki Securities of Japan thanks to the tough market in Tokyo in the late 90s.
