China COSCO Shipping Co. Ltd. revealed that its shipping container division plans to buy five Chinese units of Hong Kongese containers manufacturer Singamas Container Holdings Ltd.'s Singaporean subsidiary.

China COSCO's affiliate has agreed to buy five of Singamas' Chinese shipping container business units for around $565 million.

Under the deal, the COSCO unit will take 100 percent stakes in the five container units, namely Qidong Singamas, Qingdao Pacific, Ningbo Pacific, Singamas Container (Shanghai) and Qidong Pacific.

Singamas intends to use the sale proceeds to focus on researching and developing specialized containers.