The American International Group is close to a deal to sell two Japanese life insurance units to Prudential Financial for at least $4 billion, people briefed on the matter said Tuesday.

If completed, the deal for the two units, the AIG Star Life Insurance Co. and the AIG Edison Life Insurance Co., would be the latest by AIG to raise money to help pay back its $130 billion taxpayer-financed bailout.

Talks are continuing and may still fall apart, these people cautioned. The people requested anonymity because the discussions were still private.

The insurer’s chief executive, Robert Benmosche, had previously said that the firm planned to keep the two units. Prudential Financial and AIG began talks last year, but they fell apart. They resumed talks this year.

Spokesmen for AIG and Prudential Financial declined to comment on the talks, which were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal online.

AIG has already lined up the sales of other units as it seeks to pare down its operations to worldwide casualty and property insurance and domestic life insurance. It is planning on holding an initial public offering for American International Assurance, after failing to complete a deal with Prudential of Britain, which is unrelated to Prudential Financial. It has also agreed to sell another life insurance unit, the American Life Insurance Company, and a consumer lending business, American General Finance.