IAG walked away from major investment in China because it was unhappy with the deal on offer rather than because of shareholder pressure.
The insurance giant's shares surged last week when it announced it was shelving plans to expand in China, but chairman Brian Schwartz said shareholder opinion was not the major factor.
"We listened to shareholders but we listened to a whole lot of other people, we did due diligence and we went to China," he told reporters after Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting.
"It's not as simple as `we've done our due diligence, let's do a transaction'. It was a big transaction."
Mr Schwartz, who announced he will resign before the end of the financial year, said there was never any danger that unhappy shareholders could have blocked resolutions on remuneration or board appointments.
The remuneration report was backed by 97.7 per cent of shareholders, with similar numbers voting in favour of the election of several directors.
"Not even within cooee," Mr Schwartz said. "We're not talking about marginal votes here, you're talking about as good as we ever had."
Mike Wilkins, who retires as managing director and chief executive on November 16 to be replaced by Peter Harmer, said IAG had done right by its shareholders and customers.
"We've made six investments in Asia and we've done due diligence on over 60 companies in Asia over the last several years," Mr Wilkins said.
"That goes to show the discipline we follow and this is a similar situation."
IAG did not give details on why it walked away from China, but Mr Wilkins said reasons for transactions not proceeding could include price or not being able to gain sufficient influence over companies through executive appointments.
"It wasn't for the want of trying but you get to the point where you say `we've looked long enough and there are other opportunities," he said.
"We believe in the long term fundamentals of China ... (but) it's got to be a fit between organisations."
IAG in August acknowledged a 60 per cent writedown on the value of its investment in regional Chinese motor insurer Bohai Insurance, an announcement that came at the same time it revealed a 41 per cent drop in full year profit to $728 million.
Elsewhere in Asia, IAG is increasing its stake in India's SBI General - its joint venture with the State Bank of India - from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, while Mr Harmer hailed the acquisition of Indonesia's PT Asuransi Parolamas.
Shareholders also heard that the insurer was on track to meet its financial targets for 2015/16.
Mr Wilkins said that, based on the first quarter, the insurer's gross written premium was expected to be relatively flat for the year, with insurance margins ranging between 14 and 16 per cent.
IAG's shares closed five cents higher at $5.48.
