John F Kennedy once said, “When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters-one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.”
AIG’s predicament of shoring up its balance sheet will come into full test for the global markets as it is reportedly negotiating for sale 15 to 20 of its business units (thedeal.com)
One of which is its Philippine exposure…Philamlife.
According to the Reuters,
``The Philippine unit of American International Group (AIG), the country's biggest insurance company, has received takeover offers from several groups, including the Yuchengco business clan, a top company official said on Monday.
``…AIG had not finalised any decision on what it would do with its Philippine unit, which has total assets of 170 billion pesos ($3.6 billion). Philamlife also has interests in banking, asset management and outsourcing.”
What’s the significance?
1) If the buyers should come from the Philippines, this could reflect on the strength of the nation’s real pool of savings.
2) In a world seemingly starving for capital, this should also reflect the Philippine market’s ability to expedite and raise capital which could also translate to a test of the health conditions of our economy’s liquidity and the stability of our overall financial system.
