BEIJING - A China Construction Bank (CCB) spokesman said Tuesday that Bank of America (BofA) decided to sell most of its CCB shares "for its own reasons," and the sales will not affect CCB's development.

Bank of America said Monday that it would sell most of its remaining shares in CCB this month to bolster its capital base.

The American bank's chief financial officer, Bruce R. Thompson, said in a statement that the deal would generate approximately $2.9 billion in additional Tier 1 common capital, a crucial measure of the health of a bank as required by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

"The selling by the Bank of America is a pure market act for its own reasons, and it is not going to affect the development of our operations," the CCB spokesman said.

He added that CCB's cooperation with Bank of America and other strategic investors has been productive and promoted the continued growth of the bank's businesses.

Bank of America has cut its stake in CCB several times since 2009. This summer, it raised about $8.3 billion by selling 13.1 billion of its H-shares in CCB.

After the latest sale of about 10.4 billion H-shares this month, the Bank of America will own about one percent of CCB's common shares.