We are Squalene

We are Squalene
Vestan’s history goes back to 1984 where Mr. Vitor Nunes first sign a supply agreement to Japanese company of Squalene raw material. Since then every day of this company was to think, create, innovate, resolve and bread Squalene. It is the DNA of the company which we are truly proud off.

This journey has bring us today, with an immense set of skills and knowledge, all about Squalene, which allow us to proudly say: “we are Squalene”.
We have became the specialist in this molecule by investing more than 40 years on helping it grow to a worldwide known ingredient used in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.
How long we know Squalene?
Our history from the 80’s until today

the 80’s

1984
This company started when Squalene was hardly known by the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. Only chemists specialists and some asian companies were exploring the unique properties of this molecule. It was 1984 when Mr. Vitor Nunes founded this business after a visit to Japan, where the opportunity to supply fish oils from Europe.

1987
In just a few years the business grown from supplier of raw material to supplier of Squalene, after a significant investment in extraction and concentration equipments. With years of experience with Squalene production, the challenge was to produce Squalane to be used in the pharmaceutical industry and cosmetic industry.

the 90’s

1991
Several years of R&D and many years of tests lead to a patented hydrogenation and purification system which is still today in use and considered the most effective system in the market.

1994
With an increased demand of Squalene and Squalane, we had to expand our capacity and build a new factory building to reach 500.000Kg capacity per year. This investment as proven to be successful since it help us reach a significant market share in the world Squalane market, from which is are still remembered.

the 00’s

2000
With turn of the century, consumers were getting more aware of businesses sustainability and their ecological impact. Vegetable sourced ingredients started to be a major trend in the world and Squalene was not an exception.

2009
After creating a solid footprint in the Squalene and Squalane market of all sources, exporting to almost all geographies, we decided to change the corporate image and name to VESTAN. Since we started as a family business, it would be fair to name the company to a sum of all initial letters of the household: Vitor, Esmeralda, Telmo and André Nunes.

the 10’s

2012
Reengineering the Squalene production process for new vegetable sources of Squalene, in particular sunflower. Being a more complex production process, required new processes that were not yet internalised in our factory in Montijo.

2017
Was the first year we managed to have zero waste in our factory, selling all our by-products instead of cost. Also this year we invested in an external and internal photovoltaic production in systems to be self sufficient in terms of electric energy during sunny hours of day, reducing considerable our CO2 emissions in our production.

the 20’s

2020
Pandemic strikes hard in all business and we were no exception. We took this isolation and slow market movement period to dedicate our team to re-think business and identify opportunities of improving and innovate in all aspects of business.

2024
Rebranding of VESTAN together with a new factory built with state of the art technology and brand new office facilities for all. The goal was to create a strong and undeniable statement of our market position in the Squalane and Squalane business worldwide. And, since details make all the difference, we decided to honour the founder Vitor, by shaping the factory top outline (viewed from the sky) in a V-shape.