Insurance giant AIG is selling $1.2bn worth of shares in China's PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd, joining other global players that have been reducing their exposure to insurers and banks in the Asian powerhouse.
 
The US-based insurer is offering 740 million PICC P&C shares in an indicative price range of US$1.68 to US$1.72 each, Reuters reported.
 
According to the report, AIG is the largest shareholder in PICC with its 851 million shares. If the selldown succeeds, the insurer will only have some 110 million shares in the Chinese company.
 
AIG has agreed to a 60-day lock-up on the potential shares that it will be left with, the report added.
 
As an investor in 2003, AIG acquired a stake in PICC before the stock market flotation of the Chinese insurer.
 
It has been trimming its exposure to the Asian insurer following the two separate selldowns in 2015 that raised about US$1.3 billion.
 
AIG’s stake sale is one of the biggest block deals in Asia this year, according to Reuters. It is also among the company’s major moves in China in recent years.
 
In 2010, AIG sold part of its Asian life insurance business AIA Group Ltd through a US$20.1 billion Hong Kong IPO. Three years later, the insurer invested about US$500 million in the IPO of People Insurance Group of China Co Ltd.