June 5 (Reuters) - AIG's sale of its airplane-leasingbusiness to a Chinese consortium overcame a key financingstumble and has likely cleared a major U.S. regulatory hurdle aswell, but questions about the deal's future persist.
The Chinese consortium buying International Lease FinanceCorp (ILFC) placed about 10 percent of the purchase price in anescrow account, American International Group said in aregulatory filing on Wednesday. A delay in the payment hadthreatened to derail the deal.
The deposit also indicated that the U.S. government'sCommittee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) haddecided that the deal posed no threat to national security,according to a source familiar with the situation and a reviewof the contract between AIG and the buyers.
The ILFC buying consortium includes New China Trust,one-fifth owned by Barclays Plc ; China AviationIndustrial Fund, and P3 Investments Ltd.
An approval from CFIUS, a secretive body made up of severalgovernment agencies and headed by the U.S. Treasury secretary,would be a major milestone for the $4.8 billion deal. It wouldalso come ahead of a summit later this week between U.S.President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
National security concerns and political backlash against deals involving Chinese buyers have for years hindereddealmaking between companies in the world's two largesteconomies. CFIUS, whose reviews are notorious for lack oftransparency, has added to the uncertainty by leaving dealmakerswith little guidance on what would raise alarms in Washington.
AIG, the Treasury Department and a spokesman for theconsortium were not immediately available to comment.
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The deal still needs approvals from other regulators, and AIG's contract with the consortium is set to expire on June 14.The insurer has not yet decided whether it would extend it orlook for other options for ILFC, a source familiar with thesituation said.
Other options before AIG could include an initial publicoffering. AIG filed to take the business public in 2011 beforeultimately agreeing on the sale last year.
AIG has done that before, notably when it took Asianinsurance business AIA public after a $35.5 billiondeal to sell it to Britain's Prudential Plc fell apart.
With nearly 1,000 owned or managed planes, ILFC is one ofthe world's largest players in the business of buying aircraftand leasing them to airlines.
AIG announced the deal to sell ILFC last December. Two weeks ago, the two sides agreed to extendthe deadline for the deal's closing by a month, to mid-June.
But last week, AIG said the consortium had failed to wirethe money for the initial deposit on the deal, raising questionsabout whether it would go ahead.
The source attributed the delay in the escrow deposit tocomplexities arising from dealing with banks in China and theinvolvement of several parties and regulators in thecross-border transaction.
ILFC was the last major asset that AIG was attempting todispose of following its government-backed restructuring. It hasrecorded heavy charges in recent years to write down the valueof older planes in its fleet. The sale price for ILFC was abouthalf of what AIG once said the business was worth.
AIG shares closed down 20 cents at $43.90 on Wednesday.
Prudential (PRU)
Barclays (BARC)
