Bloomberg / By Noah Buhayar and Andrew Frye

The U.S. Treasury Department said it agreed to sell $5 billion of shares in American International Group Inc. (AIG) in a stock offering, with the bailed-out insurer buying $2 billion of the total.

The Treasury is selling 163.9 million shares at $30.50 each, compared with the May 4 closing price of $32.83, the department said in an e-mailed statement today.

The transaction, the Treasury’s third offering of AIG shares since last May, lowers the government’s stake in AIG to 63 percent from 70 percent, according to the statement. The U.S. rescued AIG in 2008 as the New York-based firm was overwhelmed by losses on bets tied to mortgages.

“We’re continuing to make significant progress exiting our investment in AIG,” Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad, said in the statement.

Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Macquarie Group Ltd., Morgan Stanley, UBS AG and Wells Fargo & Co. were the government’s banks on the offering, according to the statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Noah Buhayar in New York at nbuhayar@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net

• Hollande Defeats Sarkozy in Shift of Power to French Socialists
• Greek Election Surprise Rejects ‘Barbarism’ of Bailout Austerity
• Euro Falls to Three-Week Low After Hollande Wins French Election
• Buffett’s Son Hated Dealing With Irate Investors