AIG SELLS ISRAELI MORTGAGE UNIT

New York-based AIG is to sell Israel-based mortgage guarantor EMI Ltd to locally based Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services for $35.5m EMI Ltd provides insurance that protects mortgage banks against default. It made ILS53.9m ($14.2m) net profit for the first nine months of this year. AIG chief executive Robert Benmosche has been slowing the sell-off of AIG units, claiming that he wants to make the business grow and that he sees no justification for selling off profitable subsidiaries at a discount. However, the Israeli unit would have been capital-intensive and, given that Israel managed to avoid much of the developed world's housing slump, not difficult to sell at an attractive price.