Wise Equity has announced an agreement to acquire a majority stake in E-Pharma Trento S.p.A., an Italian contract development and manufacturing organization in the consumer health pharmaceutical and nutraceutical markets. Existing shareholder Unifarm will retain a minority stake. The investment will be made from the fund Wisequity VI.

E-Pharma Trento specializes in effervescent and soluble pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. Its portfolio includes effervescent tablets, granules, soluble powders, and orodispersible forms, manufactured at two plants in Trento with a combined capacity of around 900 million units per year. Nutraceuticals account for roughly one-third of revenues, where effervescent and soluble products are still comparatively rare.

The company's industrial plan includes a proactive commercial approach in Italian nutraceuticals, expanding into main European markets, and investing more in R&D. It also aims to keep its Trento workforce and sites as the core and may explore bolt-on acquisitions to add new technologies or enhance manufacturing capacity. Stefano Ghetti, senior partner of Wise Equity, said the company dominates a technological niche in Europe that is hard to build or attack, making it a strong fit for Wise Equity's investment strategy.