China Merchants Holdings (International) Co, which owns stakes in the country's five largest container ports, said it will buy 5.4 percent of newly established Ningbo Port Co for 847.3 million yuan (US$119 million).

Six other businesses, including Shanghai CITIC Port Investment Co, will jointly purchase 4.6 percent of Ningbo Port, the Hong Kong-based company said. The port handled 9.36 million 20-foot containers last year, 32 percent more than a year earlier, according to Containerisation International.