Ex-AIG CEO Greenberg sees more credit turmoil: CNBC
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chief executive of American International Group (AIG.N), said on Tuesday he sees more trouble in the credit crisis that has been gripping global markets in recent months.
"There is more to come. I don't think it is all over," he said in an interview on business channel CNBC.
"Some of the capital raising that has gone on in the last couple of days has given some optimism, but some will say it was a dead cat bounce. There is some volatility that still exists," he added, after U.S. stock markets surged on Tuesday.
Greenberg, who now runs two companies that were once closely affiliated with AIG, said he did not see Tuesday as a day to buy, but does see opportunities for investments around the world, including in the United States, and particularly for foreign buyers.
Greenberg told Reuters last month that Starr International Co Inc, one of the companies he runs, had inked a $900 million Russian real estate deal, and saw more opportunities there, and elsewhere, including Asia and Brazil.
Greenberg, who parted ways with AIG in 2005 amid an accounting scandal, has for the past three years been caught up in a legal battle with his former employer. One of the things at issue is ownership of a large block of shares held by Starr International.
In a fresh lawsuit filed last week against Greenberg and six other former directors and officers, AIG alleged the defendants had breached their fiduciary duty through "misappropriation of a special block of AIG shares worth approximately $20 billion in 2005."
On Tuesday, Greenberg told CNBC it was "a matter for the courts" but questioned whether management was more engaged in litigation than business matters.
He questioned whether AIG could have further write-downs, after it wrote down the value of a derivatives portfolio by $11 billion, leading to a record $5.3 billion loss in the fourth quarter.
"Is it over?" Greenberg said in the CNBC interview. "How do you know what is next?"
(Reporting by Lilla Zuill, editing by Richard Chang)
