Paulson set to step down from AIG board
Had promoted splitting firm into three
Billionaire John Paulson is planning to step down from American International Group Inc.’ s board after his hedge fund sold shares in the insurer, according to a person familiar with the plan.
The move is expected to be announced in the insurer’s proxy filing within days, said a source.
Paulson’s planned exit will remove one of the board’s more prominent advocates for shrinking the company. Directors are seeking a replacement for chief executive Peter Hancock, and potential successors will want to know whether the job will involve breaking up the insurer, a more limited plan for asset sales or a focus on growth.
Paulson had proposed splitting AIG into three separate companies, a plan that won support from billionaire Carl Icahn. AIG chairman Doug Steenland wrote in a letter to shareholders last week that it would be a mistake to divide the insurer into separate companies.
It appears that “the fullbore breakup scenario is that much further on the back burner,” David Havens, an analyst at Imperial Capital, said in a note Wednesday. “But, AIG remains a company in need of a major overhaul.”
AIG’s board intends to keep a director representing Icahn, said the person familiar with the situation. Icahn didn’t immediately return a call. Spokespeople for AIG and Paulson declined to comment. The hedge fund manager’s planned exit was previously reported by the Financial Times.
Paulson was elected to the board on May 11, 2016, along with a representative of Icahn’s firm amid optimism that the activists’ vision for reshaping the New York-based company would improve financial results and benefit shareholders. Since then, AIG posted a US$ 3.04 billion fourth- quarter loss and Hancock said he’s leaving because he lacks “wholehearted shareholder support.”
It has been a tumultuous stretch for Paulson & Co., which has been pressured by client redemptions after being unable to duplicate its successes of the mortgagecrisis era.