Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. is finalizing a plan to take a capital stake in Shanghai-based Sino Life Insurance Co., which will begin operating this fall, company officials said Monday.

Japan's largest nonlife insurer, operating under Millea Holdings Inc., is set to invest about 15 billion yen in the Chinese insurer and dispatch executives to take part in its management.

It will also offer product development and sales knowhow to the Chinese firm, they said.

Sino Life is expected to offer a wide range of products, including group insurance policies, in China's fast-growing market, they said.

Some domestic life insurers, including Meiji Life Insurance Co., have already made inroads in the life insurance market in China. Tokio Marine has a foothold in the Chinese fire-and-casualty insurance business.

The life insurance market in China was worth about 3.3 trillion yen in 2002 in terms of premiums revenue, up 60 percent from the previous year, according to media estimates.

A group of Chinese manufacturers and trading houses established Sino Life in March 2002.

Of Tokio Marine's planned investment of 15 billion yen, some 5 billion yen will be invested jointly with a group firm, Singapore-based Millea Asia Pte., the officials said.

Tokio Marine's capital interest will total 24.9 percent -- the upper limit that Chinese law sets on a foreign firm's stake in a domestic life insurer, they said.

As a result of the investment, Sino Life Insurance's capitalization will increase to around 20 billion yen, positioning it as a front-runner in the country's life insurance market.