Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), the largest U.S. cable operator, said it will buy a majority stake in Universal Studios Japan for $1.5 bn.
The USJ purchase will be Comcast’s biggest investment outside the United States as it seeks to expand its theme park business globally.
Comcast owns Universal Studios and Universal Theme Parks through its NBCUniversal unit.
The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company said on Monday that it will buy 51% of USJ Co, the holding company for the theme park operator, from owners that include Goldman Sachs, and Seoul-based private equity firm MBK.
The company focused on Asia after canceling plans to acquire Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) for $45.2bn in April, following objections from regulators.
Shares of Comcast advanced 2.8% to $56.54 in pemarket trade as of 8:22 a.m. in New York.
The Universal Studios Japan theme park, which opened in 2001 received a record 12.7mln visitors in the fiscal year through March 2015, up from 10.5mln.
NBCUniversal in August agreed to make a $200 million investment in the news website BuzzFeed and a similar amount in Vox Media, the online publisher of The Verge, Eater and Re/code.