AIG asset sale

It is difficult to fetch a good price in a fire sale, especially in this difficult economic climate, where the seller needs and wants cash, whilst the potential buyers prefer to conserve cash to weather the credit crises. Getting financing to buy will also cost more money. Companies all over the world now increasingly look to their respective governments as their godfathers to give some forms of guarantees before they take on additional ventures/risks. But he who dares wins.

So, it is good news for AIG that the US Treasury is giving it more time (5 years instead of just 2 years) to repay the loan which has now ballooned to US$150 billion (the single largest loan ever made by the US Government to a private company) from the original US$85 billion. I recall that AIG was asking for only US$40 billion when news first broke that it was heading into bankruptcy.

Where and when can we see light signalling the end of the tunnel and not the headlights of an oncoming train?