Germany's Volkswagen AG became Suzuki Motor Corp.'s biggest shareholder Friday under a capital tieup accord reached last December, Suzuki said.
The major German automaker holds a 19.9 percent stake in the minicar maker, completing its payments for Suzuki's private placement of shares.
The Suzuki-Volkswagen tieup came after the Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture-based automaker ended its long capital alliance with General Motors Co.
Suzuki used shares it had bought back from GM and kept as treasury stock for the private placement.