Country Garden to buy 19.5% stake in TVB

Yeung Kwok-keung, chairman of property developer Country Garden is close to ink a deal to acquire a 19.5% stake in Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Ltd as Lee Shau-kee, Chairman of Henderson Land and a good friend of Yeung, has agreed to provide HK$3 billion to finance the deal, local newspaper The Standard reported today citing an unnamed source.

The stake is currently owned by Sir Run Run Shaw through his 75% ownership of Shaw Brothers.

The deal, if successful, will make Yeung the chairman of Shaw Brothers and TVB. However, the management will remain unchanged.

Yeung is expected to pay HK$10 billion to HK$11 billion for the acquisition, according to the source.