Equistone Partners Europe has acquired a controlling stake in Unither Pharmaceuticals, alongside the management and existing shareholders, ING Parcom Private Equity, CM-CIC Investissement and Picardie Investissement.

Unither Pharmaceuticals was first bought out as a factory employing 17 people in Amiens in 1993 and it is now a global player in the manufacture of dosage forms (products ready for customer use) for European pharmaceutical laboratories, and generic products (particularly eyewashes, saline solutions and anti-asthma drugs in sterile single-dose units and stick-packs).

With four industrial sites and an R&D centre, Unither generated revenues of €151 million in 2010. The group currently employs more than 850 people, and has strengthened its position as a global market leader in sterile single-dose units by using Blow, Fill & Seal (BFS) technology.

The group’s capacity for innovation, the quality of its control processes – as confirmed in 2011 by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its Coutances facility – and the efficiency of its industrial apparatus mean that Unither products are popular with pharmaceutical laboratories.

The unitranche financing was arranged by the mezzanine team of AXA Private Equity.

Selling Investors
ING Parcom : Denis Le Chevallier, Laurence Bouttier, Vincent Warlop

Acquiring Investors
Equistone Partners Europe : Guillaume Jacqueau, Stanislas Gaillard, Thierry Lardinois

Financial advisors to the sellers
Aforge Finance : Damien Bachelot, Lawrence Giesen, Lamia El Fahli, Charlotte Lengaigne, Gautier Lefebvre
Axys Finance : Didier Izabel, Sandrine Chouard

Financing
Axa Mezzanine : Cécile Mayer-Levy, Jean-Marc Fiamma