On Jan. 26, American International Group (AIG) announced that it has agreed to sell its independent broker-dealer network, AIG Advisor Group, to investment funds affiliated with Lightyear Capital LLC, a U.S. private equity firm, and PSP Investments, a Canadian pension investment manager.

The sale of the AIG Advisor Group in the United States will involve 5,200 independent advisors and more than 800 full-time employees who work for the four broker-dealers under the AIG umbrella, namely FSC Securities Corporation in Atlanta, Royal Alliance Associates in New York, SagePoint Financial in Phoenix, and Woodbury Financial Services in Oakdale.

 “AIG continues to review its business strategy and take actions to become a more efficient, less complex company, able to respond to our clients’ needs with greater agility,” said AIG president and CEO Peter Hancock. “We believe advisors, clients, and partners of Advisor Group will benefit from Lightyear's and PSP Investments’ ownership of the independent business, and we look forward to a continued relationship with Advisor Group as an important distributor of AIG products.”

PSP Investments is one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers. In March of last year PSP had approximately $112 billion of assets under management and counts the Canadian Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Reserve Force among its clients.

Lightyear Capital, through its three affiliated private equity funds, has raised over $2.5 billion of capital and makes primarily control investments in North America-based, middle-market financial services companies.