U.S. insurer AIG’s life and retirement unit files for IPO

The holding company of U.S. insurer American International Group Inc’s (AIG.N) life and retirement business, SAFG Retirement Services Inc, filed for an initial public offering in the United States on Monday.

In the filing, SAFG reported total revenue of $23.39 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, up 55%. In the same period, adjusted after-tax operating income rose 14.5% to $2.93 billion. (https://bit.ly/3IMOCRm)

The move sets the stage for what is expected to be one of the marquee listings this year, even as investor interest in IPOs has waned significantly due to recent stock market volatility amid fears of aggressive rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the economic fallout of geopolitical tensions.

The filing comes less than a year after AIG announced plans to sell a 9.9% stake in the unit to private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc (BX.N) for $2.2 billion.

AIG first announced the decision to separate its life insurance and retirement businesses from its property and casualty operations in 2020, years after activist investors targeted the company for a break-up.

The insurer, which began to retool its underwriting in 2017 to make its core business more profitable said last year the process was largely complete and it was now pivoting to focus on growth.

AIG said on Monday following the IPO, it will continue to own more than 50% of SAFG.

The unit will be rebranded as Corebridge Financial Inc when it goes public. J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Piper Sandler are the underwriters for the offering.

Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta

This article was originally published by Reuters.