Japan’s Nissha acquires 60% of Vietnam stent maker in Southeast Asia push

Japan’s technology group Nissha has completed the acquisition of a 60% stake in USM Healthcare Medical Devices Factory JSC (USM Healthcare), a Vietnam-based cardiovascular stent manufacturer, expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia.

The transaction makes USM Healthcare a Nissha subsidiary effective May 20, 2026, the Japanese firm stated. This follows the share acquisition announcement Nissha made on January 23, 2026.

Accordingly, Nissha Co., Ltd. directly purchased a 59.99% stake in USM Healthcare, while its subsidiary Nissha Vietnam Co., Ltd. acquired an additional 0.01%, bringing the group’s total ownership in the Vietnamese company to 60%. However, Nissha did not disclose the acquisition value.

Nissha Vietnam, the group’s local unit based at VIT Tower in Hanoi, serves as a hub for managing its operations in the country.

Before the transaction, USM Healthcare was controlled by Vo Xuan Boi Lam with a 48.82% stake, while South Korea’s EastBridge held 25.71%. The remaining 25.47% was owned by other shareholders. Nissha disclosed the Vietnamese company’s charter capital at VND282.7 billion ($10.72 million).

Established in October 2012, USM Healthcare operates a manufacturing facility at Saigon Hi-Tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City. As of the end of March 2026, the company had 199 employees and was engaged in the manufacturing and sale of medical devices.

Net revenue for the fiscal year ended December 2025 totaled VND416.6 billion ($15.8 million). Profit declined sharply between 2022 and 2024, falling from VND55.3 billion ($2.1 million) in 2022 to VND1.5 billion ($56,893) in 2024.

USM Healthcare’s most notable strength lies in its position in the cardiovascular stent segment. According to Nissha, the company is Vietnam’s only domestic manufacturer of stents - devices used in minimally invasive catheter-based cardiovascular procedures. In addition to stents, the company also produces orthopedic devices.

USM Healthcare is more than a contract manufacturer. Nissha said the Vietnamese company operates a vertically integrated model spanning product design and development, regulatory approvals, manufacturing and sales. The structure provides USM Healthcare with cost advantages at a time when Vietnam maintains policies favoring domestically produced medical devices.

USM Healthcare said on its website that its product portfolio includes cardiovascular intervention products, medical consumables, and orthopedic and trauma devices. The company also provides services including OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and OBL (original brand manufacturer), plastic injection molding for medical products, packaging solutions for medical products, and medical-grade plastic components.

A notable milestone came in February 2025, when the company announced it had exported coronary stents to Germany under the USM Healthcare brand.

Vietnam as Southeast Asia springboard

Founded in 1929, Nissha has built its business around core technologies including printing, coating, molding and metal processing, before expanding into sectors such as industrial materials, devices, medical technology, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

As of the end of 2025, Nissha had 5,305 employees and 66 subsidiaries, including 39 overseas units. Consolidated revenue for fiscal 2025 totaled JPY194.9 billion ($1.23 billion).

In recent years, Nissha has identified healthcare as one of its priorities. Its medical technologies segment generated revenue of JPY47.13 billion ($296.03 million) in 2025, up 3.3% from a year earlier, while its devices business fell 13.5%.

Nissha currently pursues the contract design/development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) model for medical devices. Before the USM Healthcare deal, its medical-device CDMO operations were primarily centered on the U.S. market.

With the acquisition of the Vietnamese company, the group gains a manufacturing platform in Southeast Asia, a region it sees as offering strong growth potential amid economic development and rising healthcare standards.

Nissha said it plans to optimize its customer base in the U.S. and Japan, together with its expertise in medical-device design, development and manufacturing under the CDMO model, as well as its quality management capabilities, to strengthen USM Healthcare’s existing operations. Nissha also aims to expand the geographic footprint of its medical-device CDMO business across Southeast Asia.

This suggests USM Healthcare may serve not only the Vietnamese market, but also become part of Nissha’s medical-device manufacturing and export network. With an existing base in stents, orthopedic products, medical consumables and OEM/OBL services, the Vietnamese company could benefit from upgrades in quality management, manufacturing standards and access to international customers.

On the other hand, Nissha gains a manufacturing entity in Vietnam in an industry with significantly higher technical and regulatory barriers than conventional contract manufacturing sectors. The move also aligns with Vietnam’s push to attract foreign investment into industries with higher technological content, stricter quality standards and greater value-added potential.

Over the longer term, the deal value may lie less in USM Healthcare’s current revenue scale and more in its strategic role within the regional medical-device supply chain. If successfully integrated into Nissha’s CDMO network, USM Healthcare could emerge as a notable example of industrial upgrading in Vietnam’s medical-device sector - evolving from a manufacturer serving the domestic market into a deeper participant in the global healthcare supply chain.