American General Financial Services (AGFS) announced Monday it plans to lay off approximately 140 employees in the Evansville area this week.
No specific day - or days - was revealed for the lay offs. What jobs will be cut also was not made known. Workers were told the news Monday.
Joe Norton, director of public relations for New York-headquartered American International Group, Inc. (AIG) - parent company of the financial services company - said: "The downturn in the economy and its effect on the lending industry" led to the layoffs.
He said employees are being offered severance, based on their years of service, and outplacement services. AGFS is setting up an outplacement center on-site to assist employees in securing new employment.
"After the layoffs, AGFS still remains one of the largest employers in the Evansville area with over 1,300 employees," Norton said.
Workers at the Evansville AGFS headquarters Downtown and its several branches in Evansville got a hint of the forthcoming layoffs a week ago when Mark Herr, an AIG spokesman, said AGFS planned to cut a total of 500 jobs and close a total of 150 offices. However, at that time Herr declined to say where or when the cuts and closings would occur.
The global company had a total of 8,000 employees at the end of last year.
Also on Monday, the embattled insurer AIG said it was selling its Japanese headquarters to Nippon Life Insurance Co. for $1.2 billion in cash. The 35-year-old building is 15 stories tall and sits on prime real estate in Central Tokyo, next to the Imperial Palace.
The transaction will be among the biggest divestitures that AIG has made to reimburse the U.S. government for its massive infusion of aid.
The sale is expected to close in the second quarter.
AIG's roots in Japan extend back to 1946. The company is now that country's biggest foreign casualty insurer.
"AIG is pleased to effectively monetize this asset within the context of its restructuring effort, said AIG Chief Executive Ed Liddy, in a statement.
The U.S. government first provided AIG with an $85 billion loan in September.
As market conditions worsened and losses piled up at the insurer, the government revised and expanded its loan package to AIG several times.
The package of loans now totals $182.5 billion after being expanded in March when AIG reported a fourth-quarter loss of $61.7 billion, the largest ever quarterly corporate loss in U.S. history.
As part of the loan package, the U.S. government has also taken a roughly 80 percent stake in the insurance giant.
Shares of AIG fell 6 cents, or 3 percent, to $1.95 in afternoon trading Monday.
Portions of this story were provided by AP business writer Ieva M. Augstums.