(Yicai Global) May 11 -- Shares of Century Sage Scientific Holdings surged after the Chinese investment holding company said it had completed the acquisition of Be Friends, the e-commerce livestream agency behind serial entrepreneur and internet celebrity Luo Yonghao, and will rename itself accordingly.

Century Sage [HKG: 1450] closed up 7 percent at HKD2.29 (29 US cents) a share in Hong Kong today, after soaring by as much as 23.4 percent at one point.

Following the acquisition, Century Sage will change its name to Be Friends Holdings to better reflect its development in the new media business, helping the market and shareholders to better understand its strategic orientation, the Beijing-based company said yesterday.

Be Friends changed its sole shareholder to Century Sage unit Yijiang Future Technology Hangzhou from Chengdu Starry Sky Prospect Technology on May 6, according to corporate information platform Tianyancha.

Century Sage signed a five-year exclusive partnership with Be Friends last August, becoming the latter’s e-commerce livestreaming account operator. Thanks to the deal, Century Sage’s revenue jumped 110 percent to CNY425.6 million (USD61.4 million) last year from 2021, and its net loss narrowed 85 percent to CNY9.2 million (USD1.3 million).

With Be Friends as his agent, Luo Yonghao -- the founder of smartphone maker Smartisan Technology who once boasted he would buy Apple -- became one of the top livestreamers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, owned by ByteDance Technology.

After falling into a deep financial crisis, Smartisan was acquired by ByteDance in 2019. The following year, Luo got into livestreaming to earn money to pay back the firm’s debts.

Last June, Luo said he would quit all social media, including e-commerce livestreaming, to focus on other entrepreneurial projects. He does not have any stake in Be Friends and is no longer involved in the company’s daily management.

Editor: Futura Costaglione