The stricken US insurance group AIG continued to shed assets on Monday by selling the Hartford Steam Boiler Company to Munich Re, the German reinsurer, for $742m.

The deal continues Munich Re’s acquisition of niche businesses to help to counter cyclicality in general insurance and reinsurance. It also shifts the focus of its US businesses away from casualty reinsurance towards property-based reinsurance, which is more in line with the group’s wider global portfolio.