Leading Japanese electronics retailer Nojima Corporation has taken a cornerstone stake in Vietnamese electronics chain Tran Anh Digital World.

The company says it has acquired 20.86 per cent and intends to take a 30 per cent holding for now.

Tran Anh is based in Hanoi and has 15 stores in the northern regions of Vietnam, with plans to open as many as nine more this year.

Nojima’s move follows an investment by Thailand’s Central Group in taking a 49 per cent share in Nguyen Kim, a larger chain dominant in the southern region of Vietnam. And property developer Vingroup has launched what it plans to become a network of 100 electronics stores in its Vincom shopping centres, branded VinPro and in smaller standalone shops under the VinPro+ brand.

Research house GfK reports home electronics sales in Vietnam exceeded US$5.5 billion last year, the second year in a row growth in the category has exceeded 20 per cent year on year.

Vietnamese news media report Tran Anh posted a tax-paid profit of US$179,400 in the first quarter of this year, up 11.5 per cent over the same period in 2014.

Nojima first invested  in Tran Anh two years ago, taking a 10 per cent stake.