AIG, CIT Aircraft Leasing: Collateral Damage

AIG and CIT Group may find potential buyers of their aircraft leasing businesses appear suddenly less interested than they were going into the Labor Day holiday.

Author:: Dan Freed
Publish date:: Sep 8, 2009 1:32 PM EDT

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

American International Group

(AIG) - Get Report

and

CIT Group

(CIT) - Get Report

may find potential buyers of their aircraft leasing businesses appear suddenly less interested than they were going into the Labor Day holiday.

That's because more assets are reported to be on the market.

The Wall Street Journal

reported Tuesday that

Royal Bank of Scotland Group

(RBS) - Get Report

hired

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

to shop its aircraft leasing business. Reuters later followed up with a similar report, also citing anonymous sources.

Ordinarily

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

might be considered a potential buyer, but GE presumably has enough woes of its own.

Whoever does emerge as a suitor for these assets, don't expect them to pay a big price. Investors buying up shares of AIG and CIT in recent weeks should adjust their expectations accordingly.

AIG shares were down 9.95 to $36.08 in recent trading Tuesday, while CIT shares were off a penny to $1.50.

Written by Dan Freed in New York