NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - The stock of insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG) rose 43 percent on Friday on speculation that shareholders may try to derail a government takeover by helping to repay a federal loan to the company.

Sovereign wealth funds are among investors that might help pay the debt of New York-based AIG, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified person. AIG advanced $1.16 to $3.85 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, recouping just a fraction of the more than $125 billion in market value it had lost this year.

AIG, crippled by losses tied to the US housing market, avoided collapse by agreeing on Tuesday to turn over 80 percent of the company to the government in exchange for a two-year loan of as much as $85 billion. As of Wednesday, the country's largest insurer by assets had borrowed $28 billion.

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who was AIG's CEO for almost four decades until 2005, may try to end the government's involvement, his attorney, David Boies, said in an interview this week. Mr. Greenberg, 83, has said the takeover might have been avoided if the company had gotten a bridge loan, tapped private investors and sold assets.

"How can it be the right move if shareholders lose 80 percent of their equity?" Mr. Greenberg said in an interview on Wednesday.

Before the takeover, Mr. Greenberg controlled about 11 percent of AIG's shares through his personal holdings and investment firms - a stake that has plunged in value more than $5 billion this month.

When asked if this week's deal with the Fed allows investors to retain control, AIG spokesman Nicholas Ashooh said "details are being hammered out" with the government. Mr. Greenberg's spokesman Glen Rochkind declined to comment on a possible shareholder plan to repay the debt.

AIG's new CEO, Edward Liddy, told employees on Thursday he intends to repay the loan before the two-year deadline and may decide which assets to sell within weeks.

"I don't want to get things done 740 days from now and say, 'Oh, we just made it by the skin of our teeth'," Mr. Liddy, 62, said. "As soon as it is paid down, and we no longer need it, we get control of the company again."