Insurance Australia Group Ltd., Australia's largest auto and home insurer, ended talks to buy a stake in Shanghai-based China Pacific Property Insurance Co (CPIC Property).

The company agreed in July last year to buy 24.9 percent of the unit of CPIC Property for as much as US$312 million to enter a market where sales grew almost 10 percent last year.

Completion of the deal was delayed by "changes and uncertainty" within CPIC Property as it prepared for an initial share sale, Sydney-based Insurance Australia said in a statement. This included the introduction of U.S. private equity shareholders at China Pacific Insurance "which places new constraints" on Insurance Australia's planned investment.

The Australian company, based in Sydney, had been in talks for three years to buy a stake in CPIC Property, a unit of China's biggest privately owned insurer. CPIC Property controls about 12 percent of China's property and casualty insurance market.