Publicly-held company Fast Retailing Co. is preparing for a secondary listing in Hong Kong  first quarter of next year, sources told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Friday.

Japan's Fast Retailing is the operator of the Uniqlo casual-clothing store chain. It competes internationally against Spain's Inditex, Sweden's H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB and American Gap Inc., the report said.

According to WSJ, the Japanese retail holding company was already listed in Tokyo. It has been rapidly expanding in the Asian region, where it opens an average of two stores a week.

WSJ reported that Fast Retailing has already chosen Morgan Stanley as underwriter for the planned offering. However, whether or not the retailer will raise funds before it goes public remained unclear.

Should the listing eventually pushes through, the casual-clothing chain would become the third Japanese company to list in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, WSJ said. Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings Inc. raised USD206 million in a 2011 IPO, while pachinko-parlor operator Dynam Japan Holdings Co. raised USD194 million last year.

Uniqlo has 225 stores in China, 18 in Hong Kong and seven in the US as of August this year, the report said.