China Communications Construction Co. Ltd (CCCC) is close to buying 23 percent of Mota-Engil SGPS SA, the Portuguese builder announced on Friday.

Mota-Engil told the Euronext Lisbon stock exchange that CCCC was set to buy 55 million Mota-Engil shares for 3.08 euros (about US$3.69) apiece from the family that founded the company.

Chinese state-owned CCCC announced separately that it is paying 169.4 million euros to buy 23 percent of Mota-Engil.

CCCC told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it would also take new shares Mota-Engil is issuing to increase its stake in the Portuguese company to anything up to 33 percent.

The deal will be good for the expansion of CCCC abroad, and improve its ability to undertake particular projects, the company told the stock market.