Darren Sissons
American International Group
AIG-N
COMMENT
Dec 05, 2013
Prior to the meltdown, it went under the Greenberg/Rienhead (?) 15 year accumulative total return growth for about 30 years and was a very well run company. Got into trouble by effectively ensuring everything. When derivative plays effectively got caught, they ultimately ended up having to dig a ton of money from the government and the government still owns a ton. Catalyst for this story is that the balance sheet is probably reasonable now, insurance markets are going to move higher and will be a better equity performance. Going to be a very long story. There are better opportunities.
Had owned this until about a year ago, and then moved aside. Had some difficulties with management. Even against their peer group in the insurance space, this company is not operating that efficiently.
(A Top Pick Feb 6/17 Down 5%). He thinks insurance companies are having a tough go. They are not benefiting like other financial assets. He is disappointed with its performance.
The company is trading below book value. He does not see many companies who can combine P&C and Life business well. It has never really recovered from the financial crisis.
(Past Top Pick, June 13, 2017, Down 12%) He sold his earnings last November to cut his losses. The reason was that AIG took massive writedowns after their new CEO took over. He didn't want to be in this turnaround plan.
AIG-N vs. MET-N. AIG-N has been recapitalizing since the disaster of the financial crisis. MET-N did not suffer these issues. The life business is in pretty decent shape but he prefers Canadian lifecos.
AIG is famous for imploding during the Great Recession and remains a major player. Outside Canada, he avoids insurers. In Canada he likes Sun-Life and Manulife, because there's less competition. Elsewhere, it's more competitive, but earnings are more volatile.
Prior to the meltdown, it went under the Greenberg/Rienhead (?) 15 year accumulative total return growth for about 30 years and was a very well run company. Got into trouble by effectively ensuring everything. When derivative plays effectively got caught, they ultimately ended up having to dig a ton of money from the government and the government still owns a ton. Catalyst for this story is that the balance sheet is probably reasonable now, insurance markets are going to move higher and will be a better equity performance. Going to be a very long story. There are better opportunities.