The seller wants to sell the stake, which represents 33,336,000 shares in Chery, for 187 million yuan ($29.2 million), or 5.6 yuan per share, according to information available on the Web site of the exchange.

The stake is equal to 0.838 percent of Chery's shares. Neither the exchange nor Chery has disclosed who the seller is or why it wants to offload the shares.

But Chinese media widely believe the seller is an institutional investor who has failed to find a better way to exit its investment in Chery.

In 2007, Chery announced plans to go public by issuing shares on the domestic stock market. But the company has been generating financial losses in the past three years, making it unable to qualify for the planned stock listing.

Since Chery cannot get listed, its investors have lost a prime opportunity to cash out of their investments, according to Chinese media.

According to information disclosed by the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange, in 2010 Chery's core business - auto manufacturing - incurred a loss of 873.9 million yuan ($136.5 million). Thanks to subsidies it received from the local and central governments in China, it ended up with a net profit of 239.9 million yuan for the year.

Chery, located in Wuhu of east China's Anhui province, sold 308,965 vehicles in the first seven months, an increase of 15 percent year-on-year, according to J.D. Power.