Italy-based Wise Equity, through its Wisequity VI fund, has signed a binding agreement to invest in E-Pharma Trento, a CDMO specialising in solid oral delivery forms for pharmaceuticals and food supplements, joining Italy-based wholesale pharamaceutical distributon group, Unifarm as a shareholder.
“E-Pharma dominates a technological niche in which, across the whole of Europe, very few players are genuinely equipped to compete: a position that is hard to build and just as hard to attack,” said Stefano Ghetti, senior partner of Wise Equity, who led the transaction together with Ascanio Recchi, investment manager. “We are delighted to be starting out on this path alongside Unifarm and a first-class management team, with the ambition of guiding the Company through what we believe could be the most significant phase of growth in its history.”
The investment, the eighth by Wisequity VI, supports E-Pharma-Trento’s next stage of growth, both organically and international expansion. It sees Wisequity VI acquiring a majority stake in E-Pharma, with Unifarm retaining a significant shareholding.
“Wise Equity’s entry is a strategic step, intended to support a new phase of growth for the company by making available further resources, expertise and investment capacity,” said Paolo Cainelli, chairman of Unifarm.
E-Pharma covers the entire value chain from two plants in Trento, dedicated respectively to pharmaceuticals and to food supplements, with a combined capacity of around 900 million units a year. Its portfolio spans effervescent tablets and granules, soluble powders and orodispersible forms, which lie behind some of the best-known over the-counter brands sold in Italian and European pharmacies by some of the leading Italian and international pharmaceutical groups.
It closed 2025 with revenues of more than €55m, around 45% of which were generated outside Italy.
Alongside its long-standing pharmaceutical business, E-Pharma has built a growing presence in nutraceuticals, which today accounts for roughly one third of revenues.
Wise Equity was advised by: Simmons & Simmons for legal due diligence and contractual matters (Andrea Accornero, Paolo Guarneri, Ida Montanaro, Alice Barlera, Anna De Marco); Finerre as M&A advisor (Ermanno Restano); KPMG for financial due diligence (Matteo Ennio, Giulia Panella); Deloitte STP for tax due diligence (Giorgio Orlandini, Francesco Maria Paggini, Alessandro Siano); ERM for ESG/EHS due diligence (Giovanni Aquaro, Anna Galbiati, Sebastian Felipe Prieto, Isotta Bernabei).
Unifarm and E-Pharma were advised by: Deutsche Bank as M&A advisor (Marco Gasparin, Diego Dessi, Francesco De Poli); Studio Scozzi Dottori Commercialisti as tax and financial advisor (Maurizio Scozzi, Anna Postal); Valli-Mancuso e Associati as legal advisor (Marcello Mancuso).
