(Yicai Global) Oct. 10 -- China Fortune Land Development, a real estate developer focused around Beijing, plans to sell stakes in five of its subsidiaries to property giant China Vanke under an agreement that will also see the pair join forces.

A Vanke unit will pay CNY3.2 billion (USD470 million) for shares in the CFLD subsidiaries based in Zhuozhou, Langfang and Bazhou in Hebei province, the seller said in a statement today. The target companies own about 340,000 square meters of land around the Chinese capital.

CFLD picked up first-half sales of CNY80.5 billion (USD11.6 billion) this year, gaining 15.6 percent from the year-ago period, its financials show. Operating income leapt more than 57 percent to CNY35 billion.

It hopes the partnership with Vanke, which racked up more than CNY304 billion in revenue over the first half, will help it improve the quality of residential projects, an executive at CFLD told Yicai Global. He believes the move shows Vanke's optimism toward the property market in Beijing's metropolitan area.

Editor: James Boynton