Bank of America said it has agreed to pay $3 billion for a stake in China Construction Bank. It is the largest acquisition by a foreign lender in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., will invest $2.5 billion now for a 9% stake in the Beijing-based bank and buy $500 million of shares later this year in its initial public offering, the American lender said. China Construction, the nation’s no. 3 lender, aims to raise as much as $5 billion in its share sale.

“It makes sense for a U.S. bank to try to get exposure to China’s banking sector,” said Bryan Yip of Standard Life Investments in Hong Kong. “It’s a market they can’t afford to miss out on. The due diligence work it’s had to go through shows Construction Bank is fit for investors.”

Bank of America’s investment surpasses China purchases by HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, and by Citigroup, the world’s largest financial-services company. They are buying stakes in lenders and credit-card ventures in China, where savings accounts total more than $1.5 trillion.

“This is an opportunity for Bank of America” said Mark Batty of PNC Advisors in Philadelphia. “They can’t do any more large acquisitions in the U.S., so the obvious alternative is to explore opportunities in international markets.”

Bank of America has an option to increase its holdings to 19.9% during the next 5 1/2 years, the company said.

China Construction is expected to list its shares in Hong Kong later this year.

The bank has reorganized into a shareholding company, introduced risk management controls, and hired independent directors since December 2003, when it received a $22.5 billion government bailout to help it reduce bad loans.

Its bad-loan ratio stood at 3.92% at the end of 2004, down from 9.25% a year earlier. Its capital adequacy ratio was 11.29% at the end of 2004, more than the 8% required by regulators.