Maurice "Hank" Greenberg slammed the federal government for taking nearly 80 percent ownership of AIG as part of its financing deal to bail out the firm he led for many years, saying the result was an unnecessary nationalization of the company.
In a follow-up interview on the "Charlie Rose Show," the day after the Federal Reserve provided American International Group with an $85 billion bridge loan in return for a 79.9 percent stake in the company, Mr. Greenberg said the loan itself was not a problem, but the equity takeover was not acceptable.
"[I'm] not very happy," Mr. Greenberg, AIG's former chairman and chief executive, told Mr. Rose. "AIG didn't need a bailout. A bailout infers you are insolvent, or you need a capital injection. AIG needed a line of credit, a temporary infusion of cash. It did not need capital. What the government did was make $85 billion available, to take down as needed, at roughly 11 percent interest, which is okay. In addition, [the Fed took] 79.9 percent of the equity of the company, and that essentially nationalizes the company."
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