Kuwait Invest Authority To Buy About $1B Of AIA Shrs In IPO-Source

Monday, Oct 04, 2010

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--AIA Group Ltd., the pan-Asian life unit of American International Group Inc. (AIG), has secured around US$1 billion from the Kuwait Investment Authority for its US$10 billion-US$15 billion IPO, a person familiar with the deal said Monday.

The Gulf country's sovereign-wealth fund is one of the cornerstone investors in AIA, which AIG is listing to help repay U.S. taxpayers after a huge government bailout in 2008.

AIA is slated to list in Hong Kong on Oct. 29, with the roadshow set to begin Tuesday, and pricing on Oct. 21, according to a term sheet seen by Dow Jones Newswires. It began pre-marketing the deal, in which no new shares will be issued, on Sept. 27.

-By Nisha Gopalan, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832-2343; nisha.gopalan@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-10-10 0402GMT