China Life Insurance Co., the country's biggest life insurer, won regulatory approval on Friday to list in Shanghai with an initial public offer that is expected to raise over 25 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said it had approved China Life's plan to issue up to 1.5 billion new local currency A-shares, comprising 5.3 percent of its expanded share capital, by the end of this month. It would be the second largest IPO in China's domestic stock markets, making China Life the first domestically listed insurer. State-controlled China Life is among a series of top Chinese companies to list domestically this year, as the government seeks to deepen the booming equity market.

In October, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China raised 46.64 billion yuan in the domestic portion of a simultaneous IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong that totalled US$21.9 billion.

China Life, which is already listed in Hong Kong and New York and has assets totaling over 600 billion yuan, is expected to list in Shanghai next month.

Analysts estimate the offer will attract more than 500 billion yuan in subscriptions, but this seems unlikely to dampen the bullish stock market, which has welcomed blue chip listings in recent months. The benchmark Shanghai stock index closed Friday at an all-time high, up 96 percent this year. China Life has said it plans to use the proceeds of its IPO to strengthen its finances and pave the way for long-term development of its business.