Japan’s Fast Retailing has acquired a 35 percent stake in Hanoi-based women’s fashion brand Elise.

Elise, which has more than 100 stores across the country, is said to have received tens of millions of dollars from the deal – a figure much higher than its entire charter capital.

This is Fast Retailing’s first significant move into Vietnam since it announced it would launch its Uniqlo brand in Ho Chi Minh City next year.

The store will be operated by a joint venture between Fast Retailing and Mitsubishi Corporation.

Vietnam is one of the markets Uniqlo is counting on to double its store network in Southeast Asia and Oceania to around 400 by 2022.

Uniqlo’s arrival in Vietnam will intensify competition for foreign brands as Zara and H&M who have already successfully launched there.

According to the German firm Statistics Portal, Vietnam’s fashion revenue will annually grow 22.5 percent from 2017 to 2022, and its clothing sales will surge to an estimated US$245 million this year.

Another fashion group from Japan, Stripe International, has reportedly bought NEM, a Vietnamese fashion brand which targets female office workers.

Inside Retail Asia