Sep 17 2008
AIG - Was the trigger pulled too quickly?
I’m still trying to digest the Fed’s move on AIG. One interesting article is AIG’s businesses for sale as bailout buys insurer time . In the comment section, someone pulled from Bloomberg, the following:
“Greenberg, who remains one of the company’s biggest stakeholders, said the company needed a bridge loan instead of a plan that put the company under government control. An investor group led by Greenberg said in a federal filing hours before the rescue was announced it might want to buy the company or some units or make loans to AIG.”
“`Why would you want to wipe out shareholders when you just need a bridge loan?” Greenberg, 83, said in an interview before the announcement. `It doesn’t make any sense.’ Greenberg declined to comment after the Fed announcement, spokesman Glen Rochkind said. ”
It is easy to second-guess, but it does make one wonder if a non-government bridge loan could have been made instead of the government loan.