* Wants to be a major player in China company pensions
* Says only 5 pct of 220 mln target market pay into pensions
(Adds detail, background, shares)
MILAN, July 6 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest insurer, Assicurazioni Generali SpA, is buying 30 percent of asset management company Guotai AMC for 100 million euros ($140 million) to move into China's fledgling pensions market.
Guotai AMC is authorised to manage all classes of assets in China including company pension schemes which were launched recently and must be handled by authorised managers, Generali said on Monday.
Generali is already active in China via a joint venture with China National Petroleum Corp selling life and non-life insurance via a 7,500 agent network.
Chief executive Sergio Balbinot said the deal "allows us to integrate the insurance product range already offered by our local companies and achieve the strategy of becoming one of the reference players in China in company pensions".
China wants about 220 million workers to be in company pension schemes, but only about 5 percent of that number currently make contributions to a scheme.
The deal must be authorised by Chinese authorities but Generali and Guotai AMC plan to start sharing know-how and best practice immediately.
Generali stock was down 1.6 percent at 14.34 euros at 1315 GMT. (Writing by Nigel Tutt; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.7154 euro)