Guangdong Midea Electric Appliances has agreed to buy a 24 percent stake in Chinese washing machine maker Wuxi Little Swan for an estimated 1.68 billion yuan ($235 million), the Shanghai Securities News said on Wednesday.

Midea and state-owned Wuxi Guolian Development (Group) Co Ltd signed an agreement on the deal late on Tuesday, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the situation.

Little Swan, which has both domestic A shares and hard-currency B shares listed in Shenzhen, said last month its controlling shareholder planned to sell its 24.01 percent stake.

The stake had also attracted interest from China's Sichuan Changhong Electric Co, which later pulled out of the bidding.

Changhong said earlier this month it had come to the conclusion that the minimum auction price of 1.65 billion yuan in cash, set under rules for asset disposals by state shareholders, was too expensive given the risks involved.

Little Swan has been struggling in recent years amid fierce price wars in China's home appliance industry.

Little Swan, based in the eastern city of Wuxi, said in October that General Electric had agreed to buy a 30 percent stake in one of its units for $7.1 million. GE will help it sell washing machines abroad and both sides will cooperate in research and development, Little Swan said.

Little Swan in August severed an alliance with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co by selling stakes in two ventures with the Japanese company.