The remnants of securities contained in facilities created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to help bail out American International Group in 2008 were sold today, a key milestone in the company's efforts to end the government's equity interest in AIG.

Today's sale of the remaining $3.4 billion face amount of collateralized debt obligations backed by mortgage-backed securities held in the Maiden Lane III facility “marks the end of an important chapter, our assistance to AIG, that was undertaken to stabilize the financial system in the midst of the financial crisis,” William Dudley, president of the New York Fed, says in a statement.

Analysts at Sterne Agee in New York project that AIG will gain perhaps $2.9 billion above the $5 billion it paid into Maiden Lane III, up from an earlier estimate of $2.1 billion because interest in the securities is high as they carry far higher yields than currently offered through the market.