Arūnas Jarmolavičius, who represents Akola in Lithuania, said that the company purchased the stake because Statoil decided to exit Mestilla and that it has no plans to buy more shares in the biofuel producer in the near future.
"We see the investment in Mestilla as having a good potential. Otherwise, we would have probably taken no interest. We have no immediate plans as to the acquisition of any additional shares," Jarmolavičius told BNS.
He declined to disclose the value of the deal.
Akola and Statoil signed a deal on the acquisition and sale of 49 percent of shares in Mestilla on October 24.
According to the Center of Registers, Darius Zubas, the CEO of the Vilnius stock exchange-listed agricultural investment company Linas Agro Group, holds a 14.2-percent stake in Mestilla. The remaining shares are held by smaller shareholders.
In 2007, Mestilla built a modern biofuel production facility in what was one of the largest greenfield investments ever carried out in Lithuania.
Mestilla produces about 100,000 tons of biodiesel fuel annually, with about 80 percent of its products being exported to Scandinavia and Western Europe. The company's sales revenues for the 2011-2012 financial year rose by 30.9 percent to 410.892 million litas (EUR 119.1m), from 313.923 million litas in the previous financial year. It posted a net loss of 28.509 million litas, versus a net profit of 132,000 litas a year ago.
