Betz International, a historic German road haulage company based in Sonnenbühl, in the Reutlingen district of Baden-Württemberg, has been sold to Aventra as part of the insolvency proceedings opened by the Tübingen court. Insolvency administrator Dirk Poff, of Walter Riegger & Partner, announced the agreement, noting that the financial details of the transaction had not been disclosed. The sale is expected to ensure the company’s operational continuity and preserve a large proportion of its approximately 140 jobs.
Betz International filed for insolvency on 2 April 2026 and the Tübingen court opened preliminary proceedings on 7 April. In the following months, Poff assessed restructuring, continuation and liquidation options, while the company continued operating with its own fleet and staff under the supervision of the insolvency administration. The sale to Aventra, announced in early August, concludes the search for an investor with a “Fortführungslösung”, or business continuity solution, around four months after the filing.
The company was founded in 1979 as Emil Adolff Industriewerke, a plastics and industrial business based in Reutlingen, and was later converted into a road haulage company, with its headquarters moved to Sonnenbühl after it came under the Willi Betz group. Betz International served customers in the automotive, precision manufacturing and logistics sectors, with long-haul routes to Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Turkey, according to trade media reports. In April 2026, its fleet comprised 72 active commercial vehicles.
Betz International attributed the crisis to a combination of weak economic conditions and intense competitive pressure, including from cabotage and Eastern European operators, compounded by a sharp rise in fuel costs, wage burdens and environmental charges, which eroded margins on contracts signed before the cost increases. The insolvency, however, concerned only Betz International, while the other companies in the Willi Betz group, founded in 1945 by 17-year-old Willi Betz and later expanded to more than 4,000 employees and turnover of more than €1bn at its peak, were not involved in the proceedings. This was confirmed by Rainer Bisinger, managing director of Betz Holding, who said that this part of the group is continuing operations as normal.
