We advised Governia Oy in the acquisition of House of Finland from the Russian Government. House of Finland is a multi-functional centre in the heart of St Petersburg, combining a cultural centre and a Finnish school with modern office premises.
The acquisition project was based on an intergovernmental treaty between Russia and Finland. Providing legal support with respect to the drafting and implementation of this intergovernmental treaty was a unique experience for our Finnish and the Russian teams. Our assistance was not limited solely to legal drafting, but we also managed to convince the Russian authorities to re-consider their current templates and practices in view of the complexity of the deal. We negotiated with the Russian federal and local authorities, handled the drafting and were generally responsible for all the legal and a number of the practical aspects of the project.
