(Yicai) Nov. 28 -- Shares of Geely Automobile Holdings rose after its chairman spent around HKD316 million (USD40.6 million) raising his stake in the Chinese auto giant to just over 41 percent.

Geely [HKG: 0175] closed 4.9 percent higher at HKD13.78 (USD1.77) a share in Hong Kong today, after earlier jumping by as much as 9.6 percent, giving it a market capitalization of HKD138.7 billion (USD17.8 billion).

Li Shufu bought 24.2 million Geely shares on Nov. 26 and yesterday, according to the bourse data. He holds 4.17 billion shares worth about HKD55.9 billion (USD7.2 billion).

Geely sold a record 226,700 vehicles last month, up 28 percent from a year ago, with new energy vehicle sales soaring 83 percent also to a record of 108,700, according to its most recent financial report. Net profit surged 358 percent to nearly CNY13.1 billion (USD1.8 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30, while operating revenue rose 36 percent to CNY167.7 billion (USD23.1 billion).

Geely Holding Group, Geely's parent company, is undergoing a strategic transformation. On Nov. 14, the group announced that it would transfer its 11.3 percent stake in Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding to Geely Auto, whose stake in the NEV brand will increase to about 63 percent.

In addition, Geely Holding subsidiary Volvo Cars also disclosed on the same day that it will sell a 30 percent stake in Lynk & Co to Zeekr for CNY5.4 billion in a cash deal expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year. After the transaction, Zeekr will hold a 51 percent stake in its more affordable sister brand, with the rest owned by a unit of Geely Auto.

Editor: Martin Kadiev