The Treasury Department priced its large offering of shares in the American International Group at $32.50 each on Monday, according to people briefed on the matter, as the government pared its stake in the bailed-out insurer below 50 percent.
At $32.50 a share, the offering is below A.I.G.'s Monday closing price of $33.30, since banks running stock sales normally include a discount to entice investors to buy. Even at that level, the price remain above the $28.73 that Treasury has identified as the break-even price for its investment in the insurer.
With the sale, the Treasury Department and A.I.G. realized a long-held goal of reducing the government to a minority ownership position, helping hasten an end to one of the most contentious bailouts of the financial crisis. The Obama administration announced on Sunday that it planned to sell at least $18 billion worth of shares, and potentially up to $20.7 billion.
Shares in A.I.G. fell 2 percent on Monday, as existing investors fretted over the enormous slug of stock that would hit the markets.
