China'sHINA'S Alibaba.com Ltd is to pay 540 million yuan (US$79.06 million) for a controlling stake in China Civilink (Cayman), which operates in China as HiChina Web Solutions, Alibaba said yesterday.

According to the purchase agreement, Alibaba will acquire HiChina for cash in two phases, said a statement on the Alibaba.com Website.

The first phase will see Alibaba acquire 85 percent of HiChina for 435.42 million yuan.

The additional 14.67 percent retained by the founders of HiChina could be sold to Alibaba for an additional 104.56 million yuan dependent on HiChina reaching certain performance targets.

HiChina, founded in 1996, provides Internet infrastructure services to enterprises, covering domain and hosting services, enterprise e-mail systems, Website building and e-commerce consultation.

The deal is the largest investment yet by Alibaba, a global leader in business-to-business e-commerce. It was founded in 1999 in east China's Hangzhou City.

The takeover would not involve layoffs of HiChina employees because it did not involve a merger or restructuring, said Zhang Xiangdong, HiChina's president.