Malaysia Conglomerate Will Acquire 20% of Costa Mesa-Based STM : Technology: The deal, part of the ongoing globalization of O.C.’s business community, will pump $7 million cash into firm’s coffers.

COSTA MESA â€”  Pursuing an international expansion program, Satellite Technology Management Inc. said Monday that a major Malaysian conglomerate intends to acquire 20% of its stock and that the two companies will form an Asian joint venture.

Stephen Strohman, STM’s senior vice president, said the agreement calls for a subsidiary of Malaysian-based conglomerate Berjaya Group Berhad to acquire approximately 20% of STM’s common stock.

The deal, part of the ongoing globalization of the Orange County business community, will pump $7 million cash into STM’s coffers and add a sixth position, held by a Berjaya representative, to the Costa Mesa company’s board of directors.

News of the deal pumped up STM’s stock in an otherwise falling market Monday. The company’s common shares closed up $1.25 at $7.50 on the Nasdaq market for a 20% gain for the day.

STM, which makes satellite communications equipment and software, will form an Asia/Pacific joint venture in equal partnership with Berjaya Group to provide satellite communications services and products for that region.

Berjaya is a large resort, hotel and gaming center developer and operator headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. The company has properties throughout Malaysia and in Hong Kong, Mauritius, Fiji and Singapore.

Emil Youssefzadeh, STM president and chief executive, said the Berjaya investment will provide the company with capital to expand “as strategic opportunities arise.�

In February, STM signed an agreement with a subsidiary of Spain’s national telephone company to develop and market worldwide telecommunications services using STM’s products.

The Spanish company, Telefonica de Espana S.A., operates numerous satellite networks as an international carrier, has interests in telephone companies outside of Spain and is a founding shareholder in the Intelsat-K telecommunications satellite.

The agreement with Berjaya, said Strohman, furthers STM’s plans to become a major player in the growing Asian and Pacific markets.

He said the stock purchase and joint venture agreement grew out of a relationship that began when Berjaya approached STM last year as a possible vendor to provide telecommunications equipment for some of the Malaysian company’s properties.

Of the nearly 1.4 million STM shares Berjaya will acquire under the agreement, half--equal to a 10% stake--will be sold directly by STM for $7 million.

Berjaya will acquire another 560,000 shares, equal to an 8% stake, from two of STM’s outside investors for nearly $5.1 million, or $9.10 a share, and will purchase an additional 140,000 shares, or 2% of the company’s stock, on the open market.

While the deal will create a new company in Malaysia, it isn’t expected to add to STM’s domestic work force of 165 employees at facilities in Costa Mesa and San Diego.