KARACHI: Shanghai Electric, a Chinese multinational company, is set to buy the power utility serving the country’s biggest city, Karachi, in a $1.6 billion deal that will be the biggest private-sector acquisition in the country’s history. China is stepping up investment in its South Asian neighbour as part of a $46 billion project unveiled last year that will link its western Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s Gwadar port with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades. “We have received the public announcement of intention for acquisition of up to 66.4 percent of the shares of K-Electric (KE) Limited by Shanghai Electric Limited,” a Pakistan Stock Exchange notification said. The Karachi Electric Corporation, set up in 1913 as a public-sector company, was sold to Saudi Arabia’s Aljomaih Group in 2005, which in turn sold it to the UAE’s Abraaj Capital.