Chinese online gaming company Giant Interactive said Friday that it will buy Israeli rival Playtika for 30.5 billion yuan (4.5 billion U.S. dollars) in China's second-largest overseas gaming acquisition this year.

In a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Giant Interactive's shell company New Century Cruise said it will pay 25.5 billion yuan in shares and 5 billion yuan in cash.

Giant Interactive completed a backdoor listing through New Century Cruise in Shanghai in the second quarter of the year after going private in New York in 2014.

The acquisition could help Giant Interactive improve competitiveness and gain more market share globally, said the statement.

Playtika is expected to bring the parent company 1.5 billion yuan in net profits this year, 2 billion in 2017 and 2.4 billion yuan in 2018, it said.

Playtika is a leading social network games developer, and its previous mergers and acquisitions have been profitable.

In June, Chinese Internet giant Tencent agreed to buy an 84.3-percent stake in Finnish mobile game developer Supercell for 8.6 billion U.S. dollars.

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