Richard Li Tzar-kai, who agreed last week to sell most of his shares in PCCW, has reached an agreement in principle to buy the Hong Kong-based Economic Journal, reported the South China Morning Post Saturday.

The deal with Lam Shan-muk, who owns the Economic Journal with his wife Lam Lok Yau-miu, will probably include the journal's properties in its North Point headquarters, the English-language newspaper reported, citing market sources.

Any contract was yet to be signed by Richard Li and Lam for the Hong Kong Economic Journal before the transaction is finalized shortly, a PCCW source said.

According to the newspaper, the source did not reveal how much Richard Li, son of Hong Kong's wealthiest tycoon Li Ka-shing, agreed to pay.

Li last week said he would sell his 23 percent stake in PCCW, Hong Kong's largest telecommunications operator, to financier Francis Leung Pak-to at 9.2 billion HK dollars (1.18 billion U.S. dollars), but still hold about 3 percent stakes in PCCW.

Mrs. Lam Lok Yau-mui, who owns 95 per cent of the paper with her husband, invited about 30 editorial staff for lunch on Friday to celebrate the paper's birthday, the first meal Mrs. Lam had spent with the paper's editorial staff in the past seven years, according to the newspaper.

But she was tight-lipped and gave no hint on whether a deal was concluded.

The Journal, established by Mr. Lam, a columnist, in 1973, was estimated to have a daily circulation of 30,000 copies at the end of last year, according to the newspaper.

Source: Xinhua