UPDATE 1-India's Tata Comm to acquire 50 pct in Chinese firm

(Updates with details, share price)

MUMBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - India's Tata Communications Ltd (TATA.BO) said a unit had signed an equity joint venture with shareholders of China Enterprise Communications Ltd (CEC) to acquire a 50 percent stake in the Chinese firm for an undisclosed amount.

Chinese state financial conglomerate CITIC Group along with State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and CE-SCM are the majority shareholders of CEC, Tata Communications said in a statement on Wednesday.

It said Beijing-based CEC is a value-added telecoms services provider and had recently been awarded a nationwide IP-VPN service license by the Chinese government.

Tata Communications said the deal needed regulatory and government approvals from the Chinese authorities.

At 0707 GMT, shares in Tata Communications were up 1.9 percent to 441.50 rupees in a Mumbai market that was down 0.5 percent. (Reporting by Hiral Vora; Editing by John Mair)