Tsun Yip, a provider of waterworks engineering and roadworks services, will acquire Xinhua TV Asia-Pacific Operating for HK$700 million through a share and convertible bond issue.
Xinhua TV is a branch of China Xinhua News Network Co (CNC).
'We have no experience in the media industry, but we are very interested in exploring new businesses, especially in advertising,' Tsun Yip's chief executive Eric Chia Thien Loong said.
In return for the stake, CNC, a subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency, will own 28.49 per cent of Tsun Yip to become the single-largest shareholder of the company.
The acquisition was approved at Tsun Yip's extraordinary general meeting yesterday.
Chia said the firm's core business would be strengthened even as it expanded into the media sector.