Bank of America sold about $7.3 billion worth of shares in China Construction Bank <601939.SS> <0939.HK>, Bloomberg reported citing two people familiar with the transaction, as the struggling U.S. bank seeks to raise money amid the financial crisis.

The largest U.S. bank sold 13.5 billion shares, or 6 percent of China Construction Bank, at HK$4.20 each to investors including China's Hopu Investment Management Co and Singapore state investment agency Temsek Holdings , Bloomberg reported, citing one of the sources.

That was the maximum stake Bank of America was allowed to sell after a recent lock-up lapsed. The sale cuts Bank of America's stake in CCB to 10.6 percent.

A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment and an official with Beijing-controlled China Construction Bank could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bank of America had been expected to unload shares in Construction Bank since the U.S. government ordered it to find $33.9 billion worth of capital following its stress test of 19 large U.S. banks.

The HK$4.20 per share price represents a discount of about 14.3 percent to Construction Bank's Monday closing price of HK$4.90 per share. The stock ended the Tuesday morning session in Hong Kong down 1.84 percent at HK$4.81 per share.

The discount is wider than when Bank of America offloaded $2.83 billion worth of shares in Construction Bank in January at 12 percent below the Chinese bank's last trading price. That same month, Royal Bank of Scotland sold a $2.4 billion stake in Bank of China <3988.HK><601988.SS> at a 7.6 percent discount.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index <.HSI> ended the Tuesday morning session down 0.87 percent.

(Reporting by Tony Munroe, Clare Jim and Michael Flaherty; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Chris Lewis)

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