Mitsui & Co. Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head office: Tokyo, President: Tatsuo Yasunaga) agreed on February 5 to acquire 61.6% of shares of Hoken Dohjinsha, Inc. ("Hoken Dohjinsha") which is owned by Sogo Medical Holdings Co., Ltd. With this share acquisition, Mitsui will increase its stake in Hoken Dohjinsha from 33.4% to 95%, making the company a subsidiary of Mitsui.

Hoken Dohjinsha is known for its long-selling book "Katei no Igaku" (Home Medicine), which has sold over 3.3 million copies. The company is a preventive health service provider that develops its business based on scientific evidence and is the creator of Japan's first comprehensive health checkup. In recent years the company has been focusing on preventive services for corporate HR departments and payers (mainly health insurance associations) and already has a customer base of over 10 million people.

Stemming from an aging population and rising healthcare costs, the potential market for services aimed at corporate HR departments and payers is said to be ¥800 billion and growing amid the recent promotion of health management and the enactment of laws promoting preventive healthcare business initiatives. In response to this market environment, Hoken Dohjinsha will continue to advance its digital transformation and aim to become a digital health company with data-based severe disease prevention services and medical expenditure optimization business.

Mitsui aims to bridge the medical supply-demand gap in rapidly growing Asia and build a healthcare ecosystem that provides high quality medical care, and will continue investing in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, dialysis clinics and preventive medicine platforms. As a subsidiary of Mitsui, Hoken Dohjinsha will contribute to the development of medical expenditure optimization and sustainable medicine by utilizing its expertise combined with the knowledge and network Mitsui has accumulated through its healthcare and ICT businesses.

Hoken Dohjinsha