Principal Financial Group is poised to become only the third foreign firm to take a stake in a Chinese pension management firm on the mainland.

A “change of shareholders” announcement on the website of CCB Pension Management Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Beijing-based China Construction Bank, said Wednesday that subject to approval by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, Principal will acquire a 17.65% stake in CCB Pension Management.

The announcement said China Construction Bank will transfer 15 percentage points of its 85% stake in CCB Pension Management to Principal, while China’s National Council for Social Security Funds will transfer 2.65 percentage points of its 15% stake.

Details regarding what Principal Financial is paying for its stake weren’t disclosed.

The tie-up broadens a CCB-Principal Financial Group relationship that began in 2005, when the two firms launched a fund management joint venture in Beijing, CCB Principal Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Thomas Cheong, Hong Kong-based president of Principal Asia, said in an emailed statement “we’re excited to expand our relationship in China and leverage our global retirement expertise through a pension partnership with CCB.”

He called CCB’s disclosure of the planned change in CCB Pension Management’s shareholder structure “an important regulatory step as we work toward full approval.”

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