Chinese direct investments in North America are on a roll. On Friday, Canada approved a $15 billion oil-company sale to state-owned CNOOC, the biggest single overseas acquisition by a Chinese firm. Now it's AIG, the American insurance firm that hit the wall in 2008, in the spotlight. It said Sunday that it had agreed to sell 80.1% of its aircraft leasing unit to a Chinese consortium for $4.3 billion. The investors have an option to acquire an additional 9.9% of International Lease Finance Corp., subject to U.S. federal approval for the initial disposal. AIG has been shopping ILFC around as it sells off assets to repay the federal government, which kept it solvent in 2008. The Chinese investors are led by China New Trust Co Ltd, a trust fund that is 20%-owned by Barclays Capital, and include an aviation fund and a private-equity fund. AIG said two other investors - ICBC and New China Life Insurance - would participate in the secondary disposal. The deal values ILFC, which has over 1,000 aircraft in its portfolio and operates in 80 countries, at $5.3 billion.
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