(Yicai Global) Sept. 12 -- Store operator Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart wants to buy a majority stake in Belgium's jewelry certification organization to enlarge its market presence overseas.

Yuyuan Tourist Mart plans to offer USD108.8 million for two sets of equity stakes, both 40 percent, owned by Roland Lorie and Marc Brauner, the eastern China's fashion and food retail firm said in a statement yesterday. Lorie will continue to be the chief executive of IGI and hold 20 percent of the subject company's stocks after the purchase.

The equity acquisition will help realize Yuyuan Tourist Mart's strategic position in the global industrial chain of diamond and jewelry, as well as enhance and perfect the structure of such industrial chain, the company said.

Headquartered in Antwerp, IGI has business in nine countries, including China's cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong while the assets of its branches in India, Israel, Dubai and the US are the biggest.

Editor: Emmi Laine