Chinese appliance giant Suning Appliance Co. will buy 27.36 percent of shares of Japanese electronics retailer LAOX Co. to become its biggest shareholder, Suning announced Wednesday.

This is the first purchase of a Japanese public company by a Chinese firm.

Suning will invest 800 million yen (8.4 million U.S. dollars) to buy LAOX's 66.67 million shares, at 12 yen per share.

"As a listed company with transparent information and controllable risks, LAOX is worthy of our investing," said Sun Weimin, Suning's president.

Suning, China's second-largest home appliance chain, hopes to learn business practices from Western and Japanese companies. The Japanese consumer electronics retail market is similar to the Chinese market, Sun said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2009)