Great: AIG may bite back on bailout hand - Don't just bite, rip it off

Fresh from paying back a $US182 billion bailout, the American International Group has been running a nationwide advertising campaign with the tagline, ''Thank you America''.

Great: AIG may bite back on bailout hand - Don't just bite, rip it off Dan20130108192649506375

But behind the scenes, the restored insurance company is weighing whether to tell the US government agencies that rescued it during the financial crisis: Thanks, but you cheated our shareholders.

The AIG board will meet on Wednesday to discuss a $US25 billion shareholder lawsuit against the government. The lawsuit does not argue that government help was not needed. It contends that the onerous nature of the rescue - the taking of what became a 92 per cent stake in the company, the deal's high interest rates and the funnelling of billions to the insurer's Wall Street clients - deprived shareholders of tens of billions of dollars and violated the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the taking of private property for ''public use, without just compensation''.

Maurice Greenberg, AIG's former chief executive, who remains a major investor in the company, filed the lawsuit in 2011 on behalf of fellow shareholders. He has since urged AIG to join the case, a move that could nudge the government into settlement talks.
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The choice is not a simple one for the insurer. Its board members, most of whom joined after the bailout, owe a duty to shareholders to consider the lawsuit. If the board does not give careful consideration to the case, Mr Greenberg could challenge its decision to abstain.

In a statement late Tuesday, AIG said it had no choice but to consider the demand from Mr Greenberg and his holding company Starr International that AIG join his law suit. Mr Greenberg has sued for damages over the bailout and wants AIG to join him in challenging the "exorbitant" terms of the government rescue.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/aig-may-bite-back-on-bailout-hand-20130108-2ces1.html#ixzz2HT4fPBh7

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Great: AIG may bite back on bailout hand - Don't just bite, rip it off PgkowJT

Great: AIG may bite back on bailout hand - Don't just bite, rip it off PgkowJT

Great: AIG may bite back on bailout hand - Don't just bite, rip it off

Great: AIG may bite back on bailout hand - Don't just bite, rip it off

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