HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's state-owned insurer PICC Group has secured approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange for a planned initial public offering of up to $3 billion, though volatile markets mean a sale is unlikely to take place anytime soon, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

PICC is planning to raise as much as $6 billion through a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, sources previously told Reuters. If successful, the combined fund raising could potentially be Asia's biggest offering, ahead of Malaysian plantation operator Felda Global Ventures Holdings' (FGVH.KL) $3.1 billion deal.

PICC, formally known as People's Insurance Company of China Group, will join other Chinese banks and insurers looking to raise funds to bolster their balance sheets and meet regulatory requirements on capital adequacy ratios.

The Hong Kong stock exchange approval paves the way for PICC, one of China's largest insurers, to launch its offer as early as next week.

But PICC, the parent of China's largest property insurer PICC Property & Casualty Co (2328.HK), is in no hurry to launch the offer next week given the difficult market conditions, said the source, declining to be identified because the information was confidential.

Last month, PICC added 14 more banks including Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBSN.VX) to help underwrite the Hong Kong tranche of the IPO, taking the total number of banks that may end up working on the offer to a record 17.

The IPO would help PICC raise funds and inject capital into Hong Kong-listed PICC Property & Casualty to improve the unit's capital adequacy and solvency ratios, ratings agency Moody's Investors Service said in a report earlier this year.

 (Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Ryan Woo)

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-picc-gets-hong-kong-082320300.html