AIGAmerican International Group (AIG) will make a decision by early next week about whether to begin formal negotiations with strategic investors for its Asian life insurance unit AIA, Reuters reported.

Insurer AIG has been considering selling stakes in AIA to strategic investors ahead of the unit’s planned IPO. Several Chinese investors had expressed an interest in taking a stake.

The fact that AIG is now setting a deadline for the talks to begin suggests that it is willing to go ahead with the IPO even without selling stakes to strategic investors beforehand.

“The IPO train is moving quite quickly. That means there is limited ability to stop for a strategic investor to come on board and do due diligence and negotiate price,” one source told Reuters.

The AIA share sale is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2010. AIG plans to list the unit on the Hong Kong exchange in an offering that is expected to raise about $15 billion

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