Treasury to launch public offering of AIG common stock

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department said on Friday it has initiated a public offering of its common stock in AIG, the insurer the government bailed out in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.

AIG has said it intends to buy up to $2 billion of the stock sold in the offering, the Treasury Department said in a statement. The size and price of the offering are to be determined, the Treasury said.

The government spent $182 billion to prop up the company, which became unable to make good on credit default insurance when housing markets crashed. U.S. authorities retain approximately $44 billion of that investment, a Treasury official said.

The sale will be Treasury's third offering of AIG common stock. It sold $6 billion worth of shares in March and $5.8 billion in May 2011.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Bernard Orr)