Ackman Takes Stake in AIG, Divests MBIA Puts

Hedge fund investor William Ackman has taken a 33.1 million share stake in American International Group as of Sept. 30, a regulatory filing filed by his investment vehicle Pershing Square Capital Management showed.

The stake gives Ackman a 1.2 percent ownership in AIG , apart from the new 407,000 call options he also reported.

Shares of AIG jumped 5 percent on the news but pared some gains and closed up 1.48 percent at $2.06 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve agreed to invest $150 billion in AIG.

AIG shareholders have been heavily diluted by the federal rescue since it gave the United States majority ownership.

Ackman also divested his 873,000 put option positions in bond insurer MBIA , a company he has sharply criticized in the past.

MBIA has been hit hard by the credit crunch and has lost its "triple-A" credit ratings after posting billions of dollars of losses from exposure to mortgages and complex debt instruments. Ackman also took a 2.7 million share stake in card network Visa and reported a 569,924 Class A share ownership in Mastercard .

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