CHINA Life Insurance Co (stock code:601628) has boosted its stake in China Minsheng Banking Corp (stock code:600016), overtaking Chinese billionaire Liu Yonghao as the biggest shareholder of the nation's only privately controlled bank.

The nation's largest insurer owns 893.6 million shares, equivalent to 6.17 percent of Minsheng, the Beijing-based bank said in a statement to Shanghai's Stock Exchange. Ping An Insurance Co, the nation's second biggest, owns 4.93 percent of Minsheng, making it the fourth-largest investor. Minsheng's 10 largest shareholders each hold less than 10 percent, Bloomberg News reported.

Beijing-based China Life and Ping An each paid 5.45 billion yuan (US$716 million) for 714 million Minsheng shares in the bank's private placement in March. Liu's Sichuan New Hope Investment Co slipped to second-largest stockholder after buying 400 million shares in the placement.