15.7.2022

SOK – Sale of Hotel Business in St Petersburg

We advised Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta when it sold the company responsible for St Petersburg Sokos Hotels business to the Russian investors Alexander Ermakov and Yury Shumakovare. As a result of the transaction, the responsibilities for property leases and personnel salaries were transferred to the buyer as of 30 June 2022, and the hospitality business of S Group in Russia ended. The transaction did not include any rights to use S Group trademarks. 

S Group is a Finnish network of retail and service companies with more than 1,900 locations in Finland. S Group consists of cooperatives and Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta (SOK) with its subsidiaries.

Latest references

We are acting as Finnish legal advisor to Prevas Aktiebolag in its acquisition of approximately 92 percent of the shares in NMAC Group Oy (‘Enmac’). This acquisition marks Prevas’ entry into the Finnish market and is aligned with its growth strategy, enabling future market synergies. Swedish Advokatfirman Lindahl KB is acting as lead legal counsel to Prevas Aktiebolag in this deal. Enmac was founded in 1983 and is a prominent player in the Finnish market offering advanced services in production process development, including advanced technical calculations, industrial automation, product development, as well as process and piping design. With approximately 200 employees and 8 locations in Finland, Enmac achieved a turnover of MEUR 23 in 2023. The transaction is subject to approval from the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
Case published 23.5.2024
We advised Metsä Group in a transaction whereby its Russian subsidiaries Metsä Svir LLC, Metsä Forest St. Petersburg LLC, Metsä Forest Podporozhye LLC and Metsä Board Rus LLC were sold to VLP Group. VLP Group is a forest industry company operating mainly in the Vologda region of Russia. In 2022, Metsä Group discontinued its Russian operations, including the Svir sawmill, wood procurement and board sales activities. As a result of this transaction, Metsä Group has fully divested its assets in Russia. Metsä Group is a group formed by Metsäliitto Cooperative and its subsidiaries that focuses on wood procurement and forest services, wood products, pulp and paperboard, and tissue and sealing papers. In 2023, the company had a turnover of EUR 6.1 billion and employed around 9 500 people.
Case published 15.5.2024
We drafted new Codes of Ethics for SATO to use internally and with business partners. The client wanted to get concise and legally up-to-date Codes that are easy to understand and look fresh. We drafted completely new Codes, designed a clear structure for them and designed and implemented their layout. We made separate Codes of Ethics for internal use and for business partners in order to meet the exact tone and style suitable for both end user groups. We also made English translations of the Codes of Ethics. The end product was practical and interactive PDF instructions that are consistent with the client’s visual style. Client insight and taking the target group’s needs into account are some of the main principles of legal design. The client’s wishes also focused on the end users of the Code of Ethics, i.e. the company’s employees and business partners. In this project, efficient project management and an open line of communication helped us understand the wishes of the client company and deliver an end product with which the client was very happy. Active dialogue with the client was an important quality factor in this agile and iterative project. In the first phase we provided the client with a prototype and then continued the design work based on the comments we received. The appearance of the final product was designed in accordance with the client’s graphical guidelines. SATO Corporation is an expert in sustainable rental housing and one of Finland’s largest rental housing providers. SATO owns around 25,000 rental homes in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Tampere and Turku. Approximately 45,000 residents live in SATOhomes. The project involved experts in legal design, linguistics and graphic design, and members of our Legal Tech team.
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