HONG KONG (Bloomberg) - China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., the nation's third-largest insurer, may raise as much as $6 billion in Shanghai and Hong Kong share sales over the next four months, said three people familiar with the plan.

The Shanghai-based insurer, 19.9 percent owned by foreign investors led by the Carlyle Group, may sell new shares equivalent to a 12 percent stake in a Shanghai initial public offering next month, said the people, declining to be identified before an official statement.

It may offer a 10 percent stake in Hong Kong in the first quarter, they said.

Soaring investment incomes have fueled gains in Chinese insurers' shares, propelling China Life Insurance Co. past Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and American International Group Inc. as the world's largest publicly traded insurance company. China Life and smaller rival Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. have both more than tripled this year in Shanghai trading.

"In the past year, investors have been extremely enthusiastic about Chinese insurance stocks and have very much focused on their investment returns," said Dorris Chen Huanming, a Shanghai-based analyst at BNP Paribas SA.

The size of Pacific Insurance's fundraising has not yet been finalised, the people said.

China Life, the nation's largest insurer, raised a total of $3.5 billion in Hong Kong in 2003 in the largest IPO by a Chinese insurance company.

The Chinese securities watchdog's listing committed may announce as early as this week that it will hold a meeting to review Pacific Insurance's Shanghai share sale application, the people said.

China International Capital Corp. and UBS AG are managing the Shanghai IPO and the Hong Kong stock sale. Credit Suisse Group is helping arrange the sale in Hong Kong.

Liu Li, a Shanghai-based media officer for Pacific Insurance, declined to comment, as did spokespeople for the investment banks. Dorothy Lee, a Carlyle spokeswoman in Hong Kong, also declined to comment.

Carlyle Group and Prudential Financial Inc., the second- largest US life insurer, in December 2005 agreed to pay $410 million for a 25 percent stake in China Pacific Life Insurance Co., the life insurance unit of Pacific Insurance.

The group has since invested in an undisclosed amount to swap their holdings into the 19.9 percent stake in Pacific Insurance, said two people familiar with the matter.