The company's yuan-denominated "A" shares are restricted mainly to trading by Chinese citizens and a select number of foreign institutional investors approved to invest in domestic shares.

Forty percent of the shares were earmarked for strategic investors. They include the government pension fund operator, the National Council for Social Security Fund, and China's largest steel maker, Shanghai Baosteel Group.

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission forecast in October that revenues for Chinese insurers should exceed 1 trillion yuan (US$128 billion; euro98.4 billion) by 2010, more than double 2005's 493 billion yuan (US$63 billion;euro48.4 billion).

Regulators expanded investment options for insurance companies this year by letting them buy stakes in commercial banks.

The insurance regulator said Tuesday in an announcement that it has approved Beijing-based parent company China Life Insurance (Group) Co. to set up an asset management company in Hong Kong.

China Life recently paid 5.7 billion yuan for a 20 percent stake in Guangdong Development Bank as part of a consortium led by U.S.-based Citigroup Inc.

The company also is diversifying into infrastructure projects and mid-sized and big companies. Last month, it bought a 32 percent stake in China Southern Power Grid Co., a major utilities company based in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong.

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