BANK of America Corp. said yesterday it plans to raise its stake in China Construction Bank Corp. to nearly 11 percent.

The Charlotte-based bank said it will exercise part of the option it has to buy more common shares of the Beijing-based China Construction Bank. The option would be exercised under the terms of agreement when it first invested in the lender in June 2005, when Bank of America bought a 9 percent stake in the bank in a US$3 billion deal.

Bank of America said it intends to purchase 6 billion of the shares for nearly US$1.9 billion or 2.42 Hong Kong dollars per share, on or about June 5, which would take its total stake to 25.1 billion shares, or 10.75 percent of China Construction bank's issued common shares. The 6 billion new shares may not be sold until August 29, 2011, the company said.

Bank of America currently holds about 8.2 percent of the issued shares.

Since 2005, the two banks have launched nearly two dozen partnership projects, including a leasing business in Beijing and no-fee cash withdrawals from Bank of America's ATM machines in China.

Shares of Bank of America fell 15 cents to US$33.78 in midday trading yesterday.