China Construction Bank (CCB) will buy the entire 50 percent stake held by Dutch financial conglomerate ING Groep NV in Pacific Antai Life Insurance Co, to further expand its presence in the insurance sector.

The acquisition will expand CCB's customer base and also help it to integrate its banking and insurance businesses, the bank said in a statement posted on its website yesterday, without giving any financial details of the transaction.

Shanghai-based Pacific Antai Life Insurance Co, with total assets of 3.5 billion yuan and 300,000 policyholders, is a joint venture set up by ING and China Pacific Insurance Co in 1998. The two companies hold identical stakes of 50 percent in the venture.