American International Group Inc , the insurer bailed out by the U.S. government, posted its second straight quarterly profit on Friday, helped by recovery in the value of its investments.

Net profit was $455 million, or 68 cents a share, compared with a loss of $24.47 billion, or $181.02 a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The results included $1.95 billion in special gains, including from improvement in the value of securities held by AIG Financial Products, the unit largely responsible for AIG's massive losses in 2008, which led to the U.S. bailout.

Adjusted profit, excluding realized gains and losses, was $1.9 billion, or $2.85 a share. On that basis, analysts on average expected $1.98 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Since September 2008, U.S. taxpayers have put up to $180 billion at AIG's disposal, including more than $80 billion in loans the company has been trying to repay through asset sales.

Once the world's largest insurer, AIG nearly collapsed under massive losses and collateral demands from credit default swaps it sold to financial firms to guarantee residential mortgage investments.

Its shares initially fell more than 10 percent in premarket trade but later were down just 4 percent at $37.60.

(Reporting by Lilla Zuill; Editing by Derek Caney)

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