Atena Equity Partners buys Portuguese pharmaceutical company Sidefarma

Atena Equity Partners has acquired Sidefarma – Sociedade Industrial de Expansão Farmacêutica, founded in 1977 by a French multinational and which currently employs more than a hundred people and is expected to record a turnover of €12 million this year.

With over four decades of technological experience in the pharmaceutical industry, the company has a factory in Prior Velho, in the municipality of Loures, whose capacity was expanded in 2018, “providing a competitive advantage in the Portuguese market, but also contributing to export growth”.

According to a statement released this Monday by the private-equity firm, besides its own products, Sidefarma works under contract manufacturing arrangements for some of the world’s leading companies in the sector. Among the products manufactured are prescription and over-the-counter medicines, food supplements, cosmetics, medical devices, hospital drugs and biocides.

“The health area is in rising demand worldwide and Sidefarma is a company with a strong potential that allows us to explore this trend. With its manufacturing and technological skills, the company can take advantage of the sustained growth of the pharmaceutical sector, both nationally and internationally,” said Miguel Lancastre, founding partner of Atena Equity Partners.

The head of the private-equity firm also added that “the strategy includes boosting installed capacity, strengthening the management team, continuously improving processes and boosting commercial activity.”

Sidefarma’s acquisition, which was advised legally by Cuatrecasas on the buyer’s side and by CCA on the seller’s side, strengthens the investment portfolio of the Atena II Fund, which acquired the Hospital Particular de Almada, and was involved in Cariano’s restructuring, a Portuguese crane rental company.