AIG-FP Buys Stake in REX Group

AIG Financial Products Corp., Wilton, Conn., has acquired a "significant" minority stake in The REX Group, a group of San Francisco-based home finance companies, according to AIG-FP.The company said its unspecified "strategic investment" in The REX Group (including Real Estate Equity Exchange Inc. and Odin Investment Management LLC) represents "its commitment to develop U.S. residential real estate equity as an important new asset class." Joseph Cassano, president of AIG-FP, said his company "has played a leading role in developing commodities as an asset class" and that its goal is "to replicate this model" for residential real estate equity. The REX Group's first product, the REX Agreement, is a real estate equity purchase agreement that gives the homeowner a portion of the home's equity in cash in exchange for the right of the company to share in a specified percentage of the future value of the home, AIG-FP said. The companies can be found online at http://www.aigfp.com and http://www.rexagreement.com.