By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON — In a record bailout of a private company, the government on Monday provided a new $150 billion financial-rescue package to troubled insurance giant American International Group, including $40 billion for partial ownership.

The action, announced by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, was taken as it became increasingly clear that an original financial lifeline thrown to AIG in September would be insufficient to stabilize the teetering company. All told, the moves boost aid to the company to more than $150 billion. Fed officials, however, expressed confidence that the money would be repaid to taxpayers.

The $40 billion infusion comes from the recently enacted $700 billion financial bailout package. The government is buying preferred shares of AIG stock, giving taxpayers an ownership stake in the company. In turn, restrictions will be placed on executive compensation at the firm.

As part of the new arrangement, the Federal Reserve is reducing a $85 billion loan it had made available to AIG to $60 billion. The Fed also is replacing a separate $37.8 billion loan to the insurance company with a $52.5 billion aid package.

The actions were needed to “keep the company strong and facilitate its ability to complete its restructuring process successfully,” the Federal Reserve said.

And that would be good for the fragile U.S. economy, said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

The new package “will allow AIG to continue to restructure themselves in a way that will not hurt the overall economy. AIG is a large, interconnected firm,” she said.

If the company were to fail, it would wreak havoc on the country’s already ailing economic health, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke determined back in September when the government first moved to help AIG, Perino said.

It marked the first time money from the $700 billion bailout package Congress enacted last month has gone to any company other than a bank.

Struggling U.S. auto companies — General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler — have been pressing the government for more financial assistance. The money would be on top of the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Treasury Department, which is overseeing the bailout program, has promised to inject $250 billion into banks in return for partial ownership. The original notion behind the bailout package was to help financial institutions lend money more freely again, one of the main reasons the economy is in danger of getting stuck in a long and painful recession.

Until Monday, all of AIG’s bailout relief was coming from the Fed.

The Fed, earlier this year, said it would loan a total of $123 billion to AIG. The insurance company was later allowed to access another $20.9 billion through the Fed’s “commercial paper” program. That’s where the Fed is buying mounds of companies’ short-term debt often used for crucial day-to-day expenses, such as payrolls and supplies.

Monday’s restructuring provides AIG with easier terms on the original Fed loan. The new package reduces the interest rate AIG will pay and will extend the loan term to five years from two, reducing the need for AIG to sell off business lines and other assets at firesale prices to repay the government.

Under the new $52.5 billion package, the loans will last for six years. Through two new facilities, the Fed will fund the purchase of both residential mortgage-backed securities from AIG’s portfolio, and collateralized debt obligations, which are complex financial instruments that combine various slices of debt.