China's Dalian Wanda Group Co is buying Swiss sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media AG, marking the property firm's latest move into entertainment, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Infront is led by Philippe Blatter, nephew of Sepp Blatter, the head of soccer's global governing body FIFA.

The deal will be announced next Tuesday, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity as the matter isn't public.

Dalian Wanda, whose bid beat interest from U.S. sports marketing firms and media-focused buyout group Providence, values Infront at well above 900 million euros ($1 billion), a second source said.

A report by Chinese newspaper Titan Sports put the price at about 1 billion euros.

London-based private equity group Bridgepoint bought Infront for about 550 million euros including debt in 2011 and the business had estimated revenues of about 600 million euros in 2013.

Dalian Wanda and Bridgepoint declined to comment. Infront was not immediately available for comment.

Infront, based in Zug, focuses on distributing media rights for broadcasting sports events including the soccer World Cup and several Olympic winter sports.

FIFA has awarded Infront exclusive sales rights to broadcast packages of its events from 2015 to 2022, which will include two soccer World Cups, in 26 territories in Asia, including China.

Dalian Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin has said he is seeking to diversify the country's biggest property conglomerate into entertainment businesses, as China's urbanisation slows.

He wants the group's cultural business to generate more than 100 billion yuan in revenue by 2020.

Last month, Dalian Wanda announced a 45 million euro investment in Spanish soccer champions Atletico Madrid, its first overseas sports deal.

 

It also controls U.S. No.2 cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc ; Wanda Cinema Line Corp, the biggest theatre operator in China; and Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co, China's biggest real estate firm. 

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