South Korea's largest Internet portal, Daum Communications Corp. has announced that it will buy Internet unit Lycos Inc. from Spain's Terra Networks for 111 billion won or some 95 million U.S. dollars.

Under the agreement, Daum will take over a 100 percent stake in Lycos, which is listed on the U.S. Nasdaq stock market. Lycos is also known to rank seventh in the United States in terms of site visits and has about 170,000 paying users.

Daum chief executive Lee Jae-woong projected Monday that the takeover would enhance Daum's Internet services presence in the United States.

Lee also said that he would launch a Web-based community service in the U.S. by utilizing Lycos search engines.

Lycos was put up for sale in April at an asking price of 170 million dollars, with investment bank Lehman Brothers acting as advisers.

Daum, the fifth-biggest stock on the junior Kosdaq exchange, also has a joint venture with a Japanese company that is due to launch Web services in September.