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China Life Insurance Co. (LFC) said Tuesday that investors in the U.S. have withdrawn their appeal against the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit that alleged the firm concealed financial fraud and a government probe of that fraud from investors during its 2003 listing.

A federal U.S. court in New York dismissed the legal action in September, finding that "there is no merit to any of these claims," China Life said earlier.

The company said in a statement Tuesday the investors filed for voluntary dismissal of the appeal. It didn't give further details.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a New York court in March 2004, alleged the insurer failed to disclose an audit by China's National Audit Office that had uncovered irregular or illegal behavior at China Life's predecessor company involving CNY5.4 billion ($789 million).

The audit covered a period to 2002, before the insurer was restructured for its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The suit sought class-action status on behalf of all those who bought China Life's shares between Dec. 22, 2003 and Feb. 3, 2004, the period from the initial public offering until the audit office's report was released.

It said the company wouldn't have been able to sell its shares at such a high price if the audit and the financial irregularities had been disclosed to investors. After news of the audit was disclosed, China Life's shares fell sharply.

China Life raised $3.46 billion during its 2003 listing.

-Rose Yu contributed to this story, Dow Jones Newswires; 8621 6120-1200; rose.yu@dowjones.com

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