Heritage-Crystal Clean agreed this week to buy four branches of Universal Lubricants subsidiary RS Used Oil Services in a deal that could increase the rerefiners annual used oil collection volume by 8 million gallons.

While HCC chose not to disclose the transaction cost, Chief Financial Officer Mark DeVita said in a Nov. 4 press release that the acquisition was the largest in the companys history, and was paid for in cash.

Spanning Indiana, Ohio, and northern Illinois, the service routes included in the deal will supply Elgin, Ill.-based HCCs Indianapolis rerefinery, the company said. We expect this acquisition will allow us to improve the overall efficiency of our used oil collection fleet and move us closer to our long term goal of collecting enough used oil to supply 100 percent of the feedstock required by our rerefinery, said founder, president and CEO Joseph Chalhoub, noting that the deal should bring the company approximately 3,800 new customers.

The Indianapolis rerefinery now has annual capacity to recycle up to 50 million gallons of used oil and produce up to 30 million gallons of API Group II base oil, or about 2,000 barrels per day. Upon completion of an expansion project, planned for mid-2014, HCC expects the plant to process 75 million gallons of used oil annually.

Universals decision to sell its Monee, Ill., Spring Grove, Ill., Middletown, Ohio, and Carmel, Ind., branches was the result of a detailed review of the companys 36-location network, CEO Jan Horsfall said in a Nov. 1 press release. This move will allow us to focus on our primary geographic markets, which are closer in proximity to our [rerefinery] in Wichita, Kansas, he said. We will retain and grow our remaining 32 facilities throughout the southern and Midwest regions, and build on our recent expansions in Texas and Louisiana.