SunAmerica, AIG Enjoy Benefits of 1999 Merger.

A little more than a year after American International Group Inc. bought SunAmerica Inc., the honeymoon continues between the company's two driven chief executive officers--Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and Eli Broad.

"We remain a standalone company with our own identity," SunAmerica's Broad said.

For 1999, SunAmerica, Los Angeles, contributed $900 million in revenue to MG, a 16% increase over the $790 million it generated the year before its merger with MG.

Broad said he and Greenberg chat once or twice a week, they sit on each other's boards and see each other about once a month for board committee meetings.

AIG completed its $18 billion SunAmerica acquisition, billed as a pooling of interests, on Jan. 1, 1999. The marriage of the two companies has yielded several joint efforts over the past year, Broad said.

For example, SunAmerica helped MG launch variable-annuity products in Japan. SunAmerica staff trained AIG employees and helped them develop a service platform. And the companies have begun selling mutual funds in Japan, Broad said.

AIG merged its international mutual fund business with SunAmerica's business.

"Now I have responsibility for AIG's asset management, which means marketing mutual funds and variable annuities in 130 countries," Broad said.

And the two companies have combined efforts on guaranteed investment- contract portfolios.

AIG's global reach is helping SunAmerica capitalize on its branding campaign. Tracking studies have shown that SunAmerica is among the top two companies with sellers of mutual funds and annuities, Broad said. But the company is still working to increase its brand-name recognition among the high-income baby boomers it's targeting.