Healthcare M&As surge in Vietnam on foreign capital inflows

Despite a global downturn in healthcare M&A activity, Vietnam’s market has witnessed major deals in the first half of 2025.

In May, Lian SGP Holding Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese pharmaceutical giant Livzon Group, announced plans to acquire nearly 65% of Vietnam’s leading pharma firm Imexpharm (HoSE: IMP) for over VND5.73 trillion ($218.87 million). Upon completion, Imexpharm will become an indirect subsidiary of Livzon.

According to the agreement signed on May 22, Livzon will purchase 64.81% of Imexpharm’s shares from three major shareholders: SK Investment Vina III (a subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Group), Sunrise (Binh Minh Kim Investment JSC), and KBA Investment JSC.

Regarding the transaction value, SK Investment will receive over VND4.21 trillion ($160.8 million), Sunrise VND862.5 billion, and KBA nearly VND652 billion.

Livzon is a leading player in chemical drugs, biologics, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Vietnam’s state-owned pharmaceutical corporation Vinapharm still holds a 22.04% stake in Imexpharm, which targets an average gross revenue growth of 15% annually from 2024 to 2030.

In March, Mekong Enterprise Fund IV (MEF IV) under Mekong Capital made its first foray into private health care by investing in Thai Nguyen-based TNH Hospital Group.

Chris Freund, founder and CEO of Mekong Capital, stated that his group spent over a decade searching for hospital investments and chose TNH because of the visionary leadership.

Foreign capital has steadily flowed into TNH. For example, Singapore-based Blooming Earth Fund recently acquired over 6.72 million TNH shares, raising its ownership to 13.74%.

Earlier, Access S.A., SICAV-SIF-Asia Top Picks of Luxembourg bought over 1.6 million TNH shares, raising its stake to 8.05%.

These acquisitions highlighted the continued heat in Vietnam’s healthcare M&A market in H1/2025. Foreign giants have consistently targeted Vietnam’s medical sector since 2023.

Notable examples included a strategic partnership between FPT Long Chau Pharmacy and IHH Healthcare Singapore in January 2024.

Although the value remains undisclosed, the deal marks the presence of IHH Healthcare Singapore - one of Asia’s top healthcare players - in the Vietnamese market.

In 2023, Singapore’s Thomson Medical and Raffles Medical entered into comprehensive strategic cooperation and equity deals with FV Hospital and American International Hospital (AIH), respectively.

South Korea’s Dongwha Pharm acquired a controlling stake in Trung Son pharmacy chain.

More recently, Swiss investment fund KWE Beteiligungen AG increased its stake in Binh Dinh Pharma & Medical Equipment JSC (DBD) from 9.93% to 10.01%, becoming the second-largest shareholder after the Vietnamese state (13.34%).

Healthcare M&As grow in Vietnam amid global declines

Despite global M&A slowdown, foreign acquisitions in Vietnam’s pharma sector in early 2025 reflects sustained growth and strong potential in a market of 100 million people.

According to PwC’s latest report, from H1/2024 to H1/2025, global healthcare M&A volume and value declined by approximately 22% and 25%, respectively.

Pharmaceuticals and life sciences saw deal volume fall by 19%, while deal value dropped 33%, mainly due to reduced average deal size.

Healthcare services experienced a 25% drop in volume, but deal value actually rose 50%, driven by larger-scale transactions in H2/2024 and H1/2025.

In H1/2024, no healthcare deal exceeded $1 billion, contributing to the overall decline. However, activity picked up again in the following months, with several billion-dollar transactions in late 2024 and early 2025.

Regionally, the Americas saw the sharpest decline in deal volume and value in H1/2025, while Europe, the Middle East, and Asia (EMEA) gained market share.

Two core factors reshaping global healthcare are artificial intelligence (AI) and demographic shifts. The next M&A wave will be driven by technology integration and customer-centric innovation, noted PwC experts.