Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., through unit Ping An Asset Management Co. Ltd., increased its stake in U.K.-based HSBC Holdings Plc to 6.17% from 5.98%, according to a disclosure filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The insurance group's asset management unit on Feb. 9 acquired 37,220,400 additional shares of HSBC at an average price of HK$79.3774 per share. Following the share purchase, the company now owns 1,253,254,972 shares, or a 6.17% stake, in the bank.

The move came after Ping An became the second-largest shareholder of HSBC in December 2017 after raising its stake to 5.01% from 4.96%.