Chinese electronics retailer Suning has announced that the company will buy 66.67 million directed additional shares from the Japanese electronics retailer Laox at the price of JPY12 per share.

This is the first time for a Chinese retail company to acquire a Japanese listed company and it is the first for a Chinese home appliances chain to enter the overseas market in such a big way.

Suning will invest JPY800 million, about CNY57.3 million, in this acquisition. After the completion of the transaction, Suning will become the largest shareholder of the Japanese company with a 27.36% stake and the company will assign two directors, executive vice president for Suning's marketing headquarters Wang Zhe and executive president for Suning's chain development headquarters Jiang Yong, to enter the board of directors of Laox.

According to Sun Weimin, president of Suning, this is a new trial for Suning and an investment with appropriate scale and controllable risk. He said that strictly speaking, the acquisition of Laox is only capital internationalization. According to the company's former plan, it will open its first store out of the mainland in Hong Kong and gradually expand to the overseas market. Suning's first store in Hong Kong is expected to be opened in the second half of 2009.

For whether the company will open chain stores in Japan, Sun said if the company decides to develop the Japanese market, Laox will be a good platform.