NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bailed-out insurer AIG wants to keep its one-third stake in Asian insurer AIA Group Ltd rather than sell it off starting later this year, chief executive Bob Benmosche said on Friday.The surprise comments suggest American International Group is beginning to think less about asset sales and more about its future configuration as the company, once the world’s largest insurer, recovers from $182 billion of government bailouts.AIG is also on the verge of a share sale, both for itself and for the US Treasury to begin reducing its 92 percent stake in the company. Signalling that the future AIG may include a stake in AIA, plus other moves the company made in the first quarter to streamline its finances, could make AIG more attractive to institutional investors.AIG is already getting indications from investors that they may buy the insurer’s stock in the share sale at more than $30 per share, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.AIG shares fell nine cents to $30.70 in New York Stock Exchange trading on Friday.Following the company’s earnings report on Thursday and Benmosche’s comments on Friday, Standard & Poor’s analysts raised their rating on AIG to “buy” from “hold”. S&P said despite limited visibility and high execution risk, the company was starting to show growth at its main businesses.Perhaps with that growth in mind, the company released a series of “long-term aspirational goals”. By the end of 2015, it wants a return on equity of 10 percent or more, up from 6.2 percent now. It also wants to grow earnings per share at a mid-teens percentage rate annually.It now appears future plans could include at least a piece of AIA. When AIG took AIA public last year in a blockbuster offering that raised $17.9 billion, it retained what amounted to a 33 percent stake.That stake is housed in a separate entity in which the US Treasury holds a preferred interest. Most observers assumed AIG would sell the AIA shares to buy out the Treasury.