SINGAPORE'S Changi Airports International (CAI) has signed a deal to buy 29 per cent of Nanjing Lukou International Airport in Jiangsu province of eastern China, a report said on Monday.

'We are taking a stake in one of China's fastest-growing secondary airports which is just hours away from the overcrowded Shanghai airport,' The Business Times quoted CAI chief executive Chow Kok Fong as saying.

A CAI spokesperson confirmed the report.

At the signing of an initial agreement for the deal last January, Mr Chow said it represents the first private-equity investment deal in a Chinese airport by a foreign airport.

'There is a lot of scope to develop this airport into a major player next to Shanghai. This is particularly so for air cargo,' he said.

CAI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, invests in and manages airports around the world. -- AFP