AIG Says Maintains Active Dialogue With Shareholders, Including Icahn

(RTTNews) - American International Group Inc. (AIG) said that it continues to take steps to narrow its focus, improve its financial performance, and return capital to shareholders. AIG maintains an active dialogue with shareholders, including Carl Icahn.

As previously indicated, on January 26, AIG will provide an update on its strategy and its proactive plan to drive shareholder value.

In an open letter on his website, Billionaire investor Carl Icahn again urged American International Group to split up, citing MetLife's recent move to shed a chunk of its U.S. life-insurance business as well as a recent poll of AIG shareholders showing a mandate for change.

Icahn said that he recently had a discussion with Chairman Douglas Steenland regarding the upcoming investor presentation and he agreed that if shareholders' wishes go against those of the CEO, the board would definitely listen, take notice, and pay attention to what shareholders want.

Icahn suspects AIG management will release a "strategic update" on January 26th that fails to present a drastic strategic shift and instead is limited to only incremental changes such as small-scale asset sales and incremental cost cutting. If this occurs then the little credibility management now has will be lost.

Last week, MetLife Inc. (MET) said that it planned to pursue the separation of a substantial portion of its U.S. Retail segment. MetLife was currently evaluating structural alternatives for such a separation, including a public offering of shares in an independent, publicly traded company, a spin-off, or a sale.