AIG, the stricken US insurer, is considering selling more than 15 businesses, including its aircraft leasing unit, a stake in a large US reinsurer and billions of dollars in properties in an effort to repay a $85bn government loan and secure its future as an independent company.

The board of AIG, which was de facto nationalised this month when the US administration stepped in with an emergency loan, was meeting in New York on Sunday night to discuss a radical plan for asset disposals aimed at helping the company emerge from its crisis.