TOKYO (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc, Manulife Financial Corp and three other firms are expected to place competing bids for two Japanese life insurers put up for sale by American International Group Inc, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Prudential unit Gibraltar Life Insurance Co and Manulife will bid for AIG Edison Life Insurance Co and AIG Star Life Insurance Co. The remaining three bidders are a Japanese insurance company and two non-Japanese firms, the people said.

The original deadline for the bidding was set on December 5 and it was then delayed to yesterday.

The sources said the bidding process could now close later in the week and AIG is expected to select a buyer by the end of the year.

Saved from bankruptcy by a US government bailout that has now ballooned to about $152 billion, AIG is looking to raise cash by shedding assets globally.

Representatives at Prudential and Manulife in Tokyo declined to comment. AIG was not immediately available for comment.

AIG Edison ranks No.22 in the Japanese insurance industry, with insurance revenue of 407 billion yen ($4.40 billion) as of the end of March.

AIG Star ranks No.23 with revenue of 266 billion yen in March.

Gibraltar Life — which ranks No.14 with revenue of 650 billion yen — will become the sixth largest insurer in the country if its bid succeeeds. Manulife — No.11 with revenue of 794 billion yen — would become the fifth largest.

The country's top life insurer is Nippon Life Insurance Co with revenue of 4.9 trillion yen and followed by No. 2 Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co with revenue of 3.1 trillion yen.

AIG has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone Group to advise it globally on asset sales, they said.