Ending a short-lived tenure as
chairman of the board of American International Group (AIG), Harvey
Golub resigned with immediate effect on 14 July. AIG’s fifth
chairman since 2005, Golub, a former CEO of American Express, was
appointed as non-executive chairman in August 2009.
Highlighting a clash of wills
between himself and AIG CEO Robert Benmosche, Golub wrote in a
letter to the AIG board: “Bob Benmosche has informed the board that
he believes our working relationship as chairman and CEO to be
ineffective and unsustainable. At this point, I view asking the
board to choose between us would be an abdication of my
responsibility to lead.”
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Benmosche, AIG’s fifth CEO since
2005, took office shortly after Golub and, according to US media
reports, clashed with Golub over the board’s decision not to
consider UK insurer Prudential’s reduced bid for AIG’s Asian unit,
AIA Group, earlier this year. Prudential lowered its bid from
$35.5bn to $30.4bn.
Simultaneous with Golub’s
resignation AIG announced that he has been succeeded by Robert S
Miller. The new non-executive chairman’s career history is rooted
in the automotive industry, where until 2009 he served as executive
chairman of automotive parts manufacturer Delphi Corporation. He
has also served as CFO of Chrysler Corporation.
Meanwhile AIG has also announced
that it is to proceed with an initial public offer (IPO) of AIA
Group on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. AIG also announced that Mark
Tucker, former group CEO of Prudential from May 2005 to September
2009, will replace AIA Group’s CEO Mark Wilson, who has held the
position since early 2009.
The planned IPO resuscitates an
early decision in this regard. Rating agency Moody’s noted that
there is a “high degree of uncertainty” surrounding the timing and
extent of the IPO, given that market conditions are less favorable
and more volatile than in early-2010, and that an IPO for AIA Group
was previously mooted.
Moody’s added: “At this stage, we do not rule out the
possibility that AIA Group could withdraw its plan for an IPO in
favor of an outright sale to a third party, as contemplated in the
proposed sale to Prudential.”
