Taking advantage of the recent dip in Chinese equities, martial arts superstar Jet Li and his wife have purchased a majority stake in Hong Kong-listed Far East Holding International.
The pair's investment was valued at HK$1.15 billion ($148 million), heading a group of investors that paid a total of $187 million for the company, Variety magazine reported on its website on Thursday.
Acquiring through Regent Pacific Business, Li and the other investors paid HK$ 0.1 per share, a more than 90-percent discount to the price of the company shares before they stopped trading on June 29, the report said.
The other investors include King Pak-fu, chairman of cruise ship operator Carnival Group, and Xu Yong, co-founder of Chinese Web services giant Baidu.
Formerly a family-controlled property firm, Far East Holdings has been reduced to a shell company following the death of its founder Deacon Chiu in March this year.
"Controlling shell companies is seen as an attractive route on to the stock market that can be quicker and involve less scrutiny than a full initial public offering," said Patrick Frater, Asia bureau chief for Variety.
Li, who is best known for his role in numerous kung fu films and Western action blockbusters such as "Lethal Weapon 4" and "The Expendables" series, is also a key shareholder in Alibaba Pictures Group, the film production arm of e-commerce firm Alibaba.
Beijing has recently introduced a series of measures--including a ban on forming new IPOs--to bolster its fluctuating stock markets but at the cost of sapping investor confidence in mainland equity markets. In contrast, the Hong Kong market has been functioning normally without government intervention despite China's latest economic turmoil.