Manulife would be 'very happy' to increase stake in China life-insurance JV-CFO

TORONTO, May 14 (Reuters) - Manulife Financial Corp would be "very happy" to increase its stake in its Chinese joint venture with Sinochem, the chief financial officer of Canada's biggest life insurer said on Thursday.

Manulife has a 51% interest in the JV, which it signed with the Chinese state-owned company in 1996.

While acquisitions are lower on Manulife's list of priorities, "if there's an opportunity to increase the extent of our ownership (in the joint venture), we would be happy to do that," CFO Phil Witherington said at the virtual Barclays Americas Select Conference.

"It's not something that's a necessity, but a nice to have," he said. "It's a nice way to potentially deploy capital." (Reporting By Nichola Saminather )