Prudential, the British financial services company, is in talks with American International Group about a potential deal for AIG’s big life insurance business in Asia that could be worth more than $30 billion, people briefed on the matter said.

A deal for the division, American International Assurance, or AIA, could be made as soon as the middle of this week, those people said Saturday, although they said the talks were continuing and might not lead to a transaction.

AIG has been planning an initial public offering of the division, based in Hong Kong, to help repay the more than

$180 billion in bailout money that the company has received from the US government. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which owns a stake in AIA, is set to receive about $16 billion from any sale or spinoff of the division.

AIA has long been considered one of AIA’s crown jewels, a prestigious operation with about 20 million policyholders throughout Asia. Analysts have said that a public offering of AIA could value the business at more than $20 billion. If an alternative deal were struck with Prudential, it would be the largest in the company’s 162-year history. It would also make Prudential, which is not related to Prudential Financial in the US, the biggest issuer of life insurance policies in Asia.

The company already draws a majority of its revenue from Asia, with more than 11 million policyholders in 13 markets there.

Prudential and other companies expressed interest in acquiring AIA last year, only to be rebuffed because AIA was seeking a higher price than they were offering.

But acquiring AIA could place some strain on Prudential, whose market value as of Friday was about £15.3 billion, or $23.3 billion.

Prudential may need to resort to a big sale of new shares to help finance the deal.

Even as Prudential’s talks with AIA continue, other insurance companies and deep-pocketed investors like sovereign wealth funds could make their own bids for the business, the people briefed on the matter said. But the universe of other potential acquirers is considered small.

Edward Brewster, a spokesman for Prudential, and Christina Pretto, a spokeswoman for AIA, declined Saturday to comment on the talks.

News of the talks was first reported by the British television channel Sky News.

AIA was also in talks to sell another life insurance unit, American Life Insurance, to Metropolitan Life Insurance for about $15 billion, people briefed on the matter said.

Those negotiations have been stymied over a tax issue that requires resolution from the US Internal Revenue Service, those people said.