Naspers set to buy QXL for 750 mln pounds - paper

LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - South Africa's Naspers Ltd (NPNJn.J) is set to buy British-based Internet auction company QXL Ricardo Plc TRDS.L for more than 750 million pounds ($1.5 billion), a British newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Sunday Times said an agreed deal worth in the region of 17 pounds a share could come as soon as Monday. That would represent a small premium to the current share price, which ended last week at 16.55 pounds.

A spokesman for Naspers, Africa's biggest media group, declined to comment.

QXL announced last month it had received a preliminary approach, prompting industry analysts to speculate it might be a target for U.S. giant eBay Inc (EBAY.O) or Chinese Internet company Alibaba.com (1688.HK).

QXL, which is changing its name to Tradus, recently reported a 165 percent jump in first-half pretax profit to 3.68 million pounds.

The company runs auction sites chiefly in Poland and Switzerland, but recently expanded into Russia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Buying the business would fit with Naspers's strategy of growing abroad. The media combine, which owns South Africa's biggest daily newspaper the Daily Sun and African pay TV unit MultiChoice, has been building up operations in sub-Saharan Africa, China and Russia. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler, with Muchena Zigomo in Johannesburg, Editing by Erica Billingham)