AIG sells Japan headquarters for $1.2B

CHARLOTTE -- The transaction, which would be among the biggest divestitures New York-based AIG has made to reimburse the U.S. government for its massive infusion of aid, is expected to close in the second quarter.

The 35-year-old building is 15 stories and sits on prime real estate in central Tokyo, next to the Imperial Palace. The property consists of about one acre of land.

AIG's roots in Japan extend back to 1946, and the company is now the country's biggest foreign casualty insurer.

The U.S. government provided AIG with an $85 billion loan in September. As market conditions worsened and losses piled up at the insurer, the government revised and expanded its loan package to AIG several times. The package of loans now totals nearly $180 billion after being expanded in March when New York-based AIG reported a fourth-quarter loss of $61.7 billion, the largest ever quarterly corporate loss in U.S. history.

During the first quarter, AIG said it lost $4.35 billion, or $1.98 a share, compared with $7.81 billion, or $3.09 a share, during the same quarter last year.

As part of the loan package, the government has also taken a roughly 80% stake in the insurance giant.