Treasury to wrap up TARP bailout of AIG

The Treasury Department announced Monday its plans to unload its remaining holdings in the bailed-out insurance giant American International Group (AIG).

The government has launched an underwritten public offering of its remaining 234,169,156 shares of the company. Once sold, it will draw to a close one of the most visible — and most reviled — portions of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The Treasury has been slowly making its exit from AIG, after the company received $182 billion in bailout funds from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The government has been selling off its holdings in the company in portions for nearly two years.

The insurance company came to serve as the face of much of the public anger surrounding the bailouts, set into motion after the 2008 financial crash. Bonuses paid to company employees after being bailed out became a flashpoint across the country and on Capitol Hill.

Under the new plan, the Treasury would continue to hold warrants to purchase company stock that it also received as part of the bailout.

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