Meanwhile, another shareholder, Skion GmbH, increased its stake in Avista Oil from 35 percent to about 45 percent. The rest of the companys shares (10 percent) remain in the hands of Dr. Weinberger Management & Consult GmbH.

Core Link has significantly shaped and driven our growth in Europe and the United States. Due to age, the shareholder representatives involved have recommended that the future growth projects should be accompanied by a new investor in order to enable us to achieve long-term and sustainable further growth, Avista Oil told Lube Report last week.

The company said that Skion, together now with Bitburger, will continue to be an anchor shareholder of Avista Oil.

Bitburger declined to comment on the deal saying, the company is not discussing our investments.

According to Bitburgers website, the family business grew out of a brewery founded in 1817 in Bitburg and today is a medium-sized group of companies operating in a variety of business areas, including bottled water, childrens clothing, manufacturing of dental equipment and textiles.

Nord Holding said it was pleased to support the German rerefiner.

We supported the companys major developments such as their international expansion in the U.S. The new shareholder base allows Avista Oil to reach the next level of growth, Nord said in an April 25 press release.

With the new shareholder structure, Avista Oil will continue to be accompanied by industrially experienced and family-oriented shareholders, company CEO Marc Verfuerth said in an April 24 news release. Together with these strong and long-term oriented shareholders at our side, we look forward to further developing technologically and expanding into new markets, he said.

Avista Oil AG is based in Uetze, Germany. The companys current used oil processing capacity totals at 500,000 metric tons per annum. It has two rerefining facilities in Europe and one in the U.S. with combined base oil production capacity of about 241,000 t/y, according to LubesnGreases Guide to Global Base Oil Refining.

Avista is currently developing an additional 100,000 t/y of base oil production capacity, according to the company. Avista and United Kingdom-based used oil collector Slicker Recycling Ltd. entered into a partnership in mid-2018 to build a used oil rerefinery in Kalundborg, Denmark. Construction of the rerefinery, which will produce API Group I base oil, was expected to be finalized by the end of 2019. The plants base oil production capacity wont be set until engineering is completed, but Avista at the time noted that the yield for its technology is typically around 60 to 70 percent base oil per ton of used oil feedstock. The feedstock capacity of the Kalundborg plant will be 100,000 t/y.

The site in Kalundborg has an existing Avista Oil rerefinery with capacity to make 42,000 tons per year of API Group I oils. That plant ceased production in July 2017 following a fire.