AIG's AIA Head Says He'll Treble Unit Value To $100B - Source

20th Jul 2010 18:17

By Melissa Korn Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The new head of American International Group Inc.'s (AIG) AIA Group Ltd., Mark Tucker, told employees at a Hong Kong staff meeting Monday that he planned to treble the unit's value to $100 billion, a person familiar with the meeting said. Tucker, who was named chief of AIA Group Ltd. Monday, will be leading AIA, a huge Asian life insurance unit of AIG, to a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange later this year. Tucker's bullish proclamation is a harsh blow to Prudential PLC (PUK, PRU.LN), whose bid for the Asian unit fell apart this spring after shareholders scoffed at the prospect of paying $35.5 billion. Tucker was chief executive of Prudential from May 2005 to September 2009 and speculation is already swirling that his appointment could lead to a takeover bid for Prudential's Asian insurance operations by AIA. Tucker's comments were reported earlier by Bloomberg News. Shares of AIG were recently trading 0.2% higher at $35.47. Prudential's American depositary shares were off 1.4% at $15.52. -By Melissa Korn, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2271; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 20, 2010 13:17 ET (17:17 GMT)