Jerome Favre/Bloomberg NewsThe Hong Kong headquarters of American International Assurance, the Asian insurance unit of American International Group.

HONG KONG — The insurance giant American International Group is looking to raise $6 billion by reducing its stake in its Asian insurance unit, part of a broader effort to repay the federal government.

A.I.G. plans to sell 1.7 billion shares of American International Assurance, which is listed in Hong Kong, at a price of 27.15 to 27.50 Hong Kong dollars a share, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction said Monday.

The deal is the latest move by A.I.G. to get off government life support.

Since 2008, the United States has pumped roughly $182 billion into the insurer to help stabilize the financial system. As part of the rescue effort, A.I.A. was spun off and placed in a special purpose vehicle, which was financed by the government.

In October 2010, the insurer sold two-thirds of its stake in the Asian business in an initial public offering that raised $17.8 billion.

Now, A.I.G. is looking to reduce the government’s balance even further. At 27.50 Hong Kong dollars a share, the price for A.I.A. represents a 40 percent premium to the I.P.O. price, albeit a 5.5 percent discount to the closing last Friday.

A.I.G. hopes to raise $6 billion from the sale; it owes the United States Treasury $8.4 billion related to the A.I.A. special purpose vehicle. After the sale, A.I.G.’s stake in A.I.A. would drop to 19 percent from 33 percent.

‘‘We could think about using the proceeds, if we decided to sell A.I.A., potentially for capital management,’’ Robert Benmosche, the chief executive of A.I.G., said at an investors’ conference last month, according to a transcript of the event. ‘‘Capital management meaning we could buy some of the overhang from the U.S. Treasury.’’

In recent months, the government has made a number of moves to recoup its investment in A.I.G., most notably a three-part sale of mortgage-backed bonds that were taken off A.I.G.’s books as part of the bailout. The bonds, which were held in a vehicle known as Maiden Lane II that was set up by the New York Federal Reserve and financed with a $19.5 billion loan, were sold to investors including Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. A.I.G. itself bought back Maiden Lane II bonds with a face value of about $2 billion from those banks.

The United States government still owns 77 percent of the outstanding shares of A.I.G.. Treasury officials have previously outlined broad plans to recoup the taxpayer dollars through sales of A.I.G. stock listed in New York. That stock must be priced about $29 a share for the government to break even; it is currently trading at $29.80.

The A.I.A. sale is being handled by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. The final price for the shares will be set on Tuesday, the person said.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 5, 2012