Yangzijiang Shipbuilders, together with its nonexecutive director Yu Kebing and an unnamed Middle East investor, have offered to buy Singaporebased PPL Holdings for US$155 million , the company said on Saturday.

When the deal is completed, Yangzijiang will own 50.1 per cent of PPL Holdings, while the Middle East investor and Mr Yu will hold 45 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively. PPL Holdings is currently owned by mainboardlisted Baker Technology. To fund its acquisition of a 50.1-per-cent stake, Yangzijiang said it will issue some 83.6 million new shares at $1.295 each to the Middle East investor to raise the equivalent of about US$77.7 million.