Activist investor Icahn raises stake in AIG by 5.2 percent

(Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn has raised his stake in American International Group Inc by 5.2 percent, putting him in a better position to pressure the insurer to split into three independent companies. Icahn now owns 44.4 million shares in AIG, a regulatory filing showed on Monday, bringing his stake in the biggest U.S. commercial insurer by premiums to about 4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Tensions have been mounting between AIG Chief Executive Peter Hancock and Icahn over the billionaire' s suggestion in October that the company should break up - an idea Hancock promptly rebuffed. Icahn had argued that a split would help AIG rid itself of the regulatory burden of being a systemically important financial institution, which requires higher capital cushions. In February, the insurer agreed to add Samuel Merksamer, a managing director at Icahn Capital LP, to its board. (Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)