Chinese Internet firm Tencent plans to buy a 15-percent stake in JD.com, a major online direct sales company in China, before the latter launches its initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.

The purchase, representing 251,678,637 outstanding JD ordinary shares, will cost Tencent $214.6 million and its e-commerce branches, according to Tencent's statement filed with Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 10.

After the purchase, Tencent will continue to buy 5 percent of JD's outstanding ordinary shares on a post-IPO basis, the statement said.

In return, JD will take over Tencent's business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer platforms Wanggou.com and Paipai.com, with all capital, assets, liabilities transferred to JD. It will also gain a minor stake in Tencent's other online shopping website Yixun.com and the right to buy the site's remaining shares.

The deal, dubbed the two companies' overall business collaboration in the e-commerce business, aims to win leverage in the competition with another Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba, which owns and operates the country's largest online purchase platform.

In addition, Tencent will offer JD level-1 access points at WeChat and Mobile QQ, two of the most popular mobile messaging apps developed by Tencent, to boost the latter's growth in physical goods e-commerce, the statement said.

The two firms will also further ties in mobile apps and online payment solutions, with JD being regarded as Tencent's preferred partner in certain business areas.

Offshore RMB Index

China's most internationalized bank, Bank of China (BOC), rolled out its first offshore renminbi index (ORI) on March 11, in a move to push globalization of the currency.

The bank's ORI mainly tracks development of the yuan's deposit scale, operation, use of financial tools and other aspects with five indicators reflecting performance in the international financial market.

BOC rolled out a cross-border renminbi index (CRI) last year. The two indexes combined offer a comprehensive tracking system for the yuan's internationalization progress, said Chen Siqing, President of BOC.

The ORI increased from 0.32 percent at the end of 2011 to 0.91 percent at the end of 2013, indicating the growing scale of offshore renminbi deposits.

The index showed that Hong Kong is the leading offshore renminbi center while the markets in Africa, Middle East and America offer great potential.

Compared with other major international currencies, the yuan enjoys a limited share in the global offshore market, but is accelerating its internationalization using Southeast Asia as a springboard.

FTA Talks

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on March 10 that during his visit to China early next month, he will discuss the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Australia with Chinese leaders.

When delivering the annual government work report to the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 5, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that China will accelerate negotiations for an FTA with Australia.

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said that Li's comments were "most encouraging and highly welcomed."

"The world is acutely aware of the opportunities presented by China. So we need to do all we can to lock in our trading assessment relationship if we are to protect and grow our access to China in the years and the decades ahead," Robb said.

A deal with China, Australia's biggest trading partner, is believed to be a boon for the Australia's agricultural exports, such as beef and dairy.

The FTA is also expected to open the lucrative Chinese market to Australia's financial services, legal services, education and telecommunications, Robb said.