The government will audition bankers to manage a public offering of its stake in insurer American International Group , according to a report on Saturday in the Wall Street Journal.

Citing people familiar with the matter the paper said auditions would be this coming week in New York. An AIG spokesman declined to comment on the report on the Journal's web site.

Treasury and AIG officials will meet with representatives of 10 banks seeking to play a part in the stock offering, the paper said.

AIG received the largest bailout of the credit crisis, at one point owing the government more than $182 billion. The government now stands to make a huge profit on the deal with a series of stock sales starting as soon as March.

The company said on Thursday its board had approved the issuance of warrants to buy 75 million shares of common stock, subject to all the parties to the recapitalization agreeing it can close by January 14.

Shares of AIG closed up 1.21 percent, on Friday at $61.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Banks that previously agreed to provide unsecured loans to AIG through a revolving credit facility may get a role in the IPO, the Journal said. Some of those banks include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co , Citigroup and Bank of America .

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson)

Citigroup Aig