Bank of America to raise stake in China Construction Bank

Bank of America Corp will raise its shareholding in China Construction Bank (CCB)<601939><939>, one of the Big Four State-owned banks in this country, to 19.13% from the current 10.8%, sources reported.

According to the statement of Bank of America on Monday, the U.S. lender will exercise its option acquired in June 2005 to buy anther 19.58 million H-shares from the Chinese lender's state parent Central Huijin at the price of around RMB 2.46 apiece.

The purchase of the option shares is expected to be completed by the end of this month, according to Bank of America. Upon the completion of the deal, the U.S. bank will hold around 44.7 billion shares in CCB, which won't become tradable until Aug. 29, 2011.

H-shares of CCB declined slightly to close at HK$4.11 on Monday.