Australian online employment advertising company Seek announced on Friday it will increase its ownership stake in Chinese employment website Zhaopin to 72.3 percent as part of its global expansion strategy.

Seek said it had entered into a share purchase agreement to increase its stake in Zhaopin Limited from 55.5 percent to 72.3 percent via a sell down of shares from Macquarie and other exiting shareholders for a total of $105 million.

Seek will launch an offer to acquire additional shares to further increase its ownership in Zhaopin to about 79 percent.

Seek Managing Director Jason Lenga said the transaction was an important step in expanding Seek's exposure in key international markets.

"Zhaopin is a leading player in many of China's geographic regions and across several key online metrics," Lenga said in a statement.

"As China's urbanisation and internet penetration increases, we expect it will be the world's largest online employment marketplace," he added.

The deals are expected to be completed by the end of February 2013.