Merchant's parent company quietly invested in chocolate (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
marco polo
'merchant's' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Merchant of Venice' mean 'marco polo' so perhaps 'merchant' could also mean 'marco polo')
'parent company quietly invested in chocolate' is the wordplay.
'parent' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mum or mother).
'company' becomes 'co' (abbreviation).
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'invested in' indicates putting letters inside.
'chocolate' becomes 'rolo' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'co'+'p'='cop'
'cop' put inside 'rolo' is 'rcopolo'.
'ma'+'rcopolo'='MARCO POLO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for marco polo that I've seen before include "Old travelling salesman" , "traveller in East" , "Historic trader" , "sheep" , "Adventurous traveller" .)