AIG BOOSTS AIA PROCEEDS TO $20.51BN

US government-controlled insurer AIG at the weekend raised proceeds from the initial public offering of pan-Asian life assurance unit AIG Group in Hong Kong to $20.51bn by exercising an overallotment option to sell an additional 1.05bn shares owing to enthusiastic demand. AIG initially raised $17.8bn with the sale of 5.86bn shares in the IPO. With the high demand for AIA shares, the shares closed on Friday at HKD23.05, 17% higher than the initial listing price of HKD19.68 and not far from the intraday trading high of HKD23.15. AIA shares accounted for 36% of the Hong Kong exchange's total HKD135.9bn trading volume on Friday. AIA executive chairman Mark Tucker said at the Hong Kong listing ceremony that there was no better place to list its shares, noting it was "where we have our oldest and most successful operations". By exercising the overallotment option, AIG has reduced its stake in AIA to around 33%.