CHINA's Cosco Shipping Holdings has agreed to pay CNY5.5 billion (US$814 million) to buy a 5.8 per cent stake in COFCO Fortune, a food processing and logistics unit of Chinese state agricultural conglomerate COFCO, Reuters reports.

According to a Cosco Shipping Holdings stock exchange filing, the deal is part of a COFCO Fortune capital increase plan. On completion of the capital raising deal, COFCO and other units of the conglomerate will retain a combined 69.8 per cent stake in COFCO Fortune, down from 89.7 per cent previously.