Castrén & Snellman continues as a sustainability forerunner in business law. Our newly published sustainability report for 2023 is our fourth. The report offers an overview of our sustainability work thus far, covering three areas: advice for clients, responsible business and impact on society.
7.5.2024
Castrén & Snellman published its sustainability report for 2023
Our sustainability report for 2023 highlights diversity work and ESG-related client assignments
We take ESG considerations into account in all the services we offer to our clients. Increasingly, we carry out ESG due diligence reviews and provide training on the developing regulatory framework of corporate sustainability.
Here are some ways in which we promoted sustainability in 2023:
- We focused on diversity work and have had success. Fewer employees disagree with the statement that our work community supports employees expressing their membership in minorities. In our first equality survey in 2021, 13.5% of the respondents disagreed with the statement while in 2023 only 4.4% disagreed.
- We organised our sustainability work more efficiently. We established an ESG steering group consisting of partners to focus on corporate sustainability. Our Head of Sustainability, Partner Anna Kuusniemi-Laine joined the Management Group. ESG Counsel Lia Heasman was recruited to strengthen our client work. These decisions made in 2023 will be reflected in our work this year.
- We met our first climate targets as our direct emissions and the emissions from the energy we use decreased over 99% compared to 2019. The decrease is largely due to a switch to renewable district heating in our premises in the autumn of 2022. There is still room for improvement in reducing our indirect emissions in the value chain.
Read our sustainability report.
Our sustainability work in 2024 is spurred on by the regulatory framework of corporate sustainability as we help our clients meet the requirements of new ESG laws, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. We are also preparing for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ourselves, since it will apply to us as of 2025.
You can read the reports for the years 2020–2022 here.
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Latest news
Latest references
Piippo – Sale of bale netwrap and baler twine machines and certain trademarks
We are acting as legal advisor to Piippo Plc in the sale of their bale netwrap and baler twine machines, related assets, and trademarks used in Piippo’s business to Portuguese Cotesi S.A. The sale of assets will be carried out in two phases and the final completion of the transaction is expected to occur during the first quarter of 2026. Piippo Oyj’s core business is baling nets and twine and it is one of the leading suppliers in the industry globally. The company’s global distribution network covers more than 40 countries. The company’s shares are listed on the First North Growth Market Finland operated by Nasdaq Helsinki Oy. Founded in 1967, Cotesi is one of the world’s leading producers of synthetic and natural twines, nets and ropes, with operations in Europe, North America and South America and its main production plant in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
Case published 17.4.2025
KKR – Acquisition of Karo Healthcare
We acted as Finnish legal adviser to KKR in connection with its acquisition of the entire share capital of Karo Healthcare from EQT. The transaction follows Karo’s significant strategic transformation from a Nordic specialty pharma business into a leading pan-European consumer healthcare platform, with an attractive product portfolio spanning core categories such as Skin Health, Foot Health, and Intimate Health, as well as Digestive Health and Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements. KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the coming months.
Case published 17.4.2025
Savings Banks Group – Sale of Sb Life Insurance
We advised the Savings Banks Group on an arrangement whereby the shares in Sp-Henkivakuutus Oy were sold to Henki-Fennia and at the same time the parties agreed on a long-term distribution cooperation for insurance savings and loan protection products. The closing of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals. Sb Life Insurance is a domestic life insurance company, established in 2007, offering insurance savings and risk insurance products to private customers and companies. The Savings Banks and Oma Säästöpankki Oyj act as agents for Sp-Life Insurance. Henki-Fennia is a subsidiary of Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö Fennia, specialising in voluntary life, pension and savings insurance.
Case published 11.4.2025
Readpeak – Capital Investment
We advised Readpeak in an arrangement where Finnish growth fund Voland Partners made an investment in Readpeak. Readpeak is a service platform specialising in native advertising for purchasing, designing, and targeting the distribution of advertising space. Readpeak has quickly risen to a leading position with its platform solution, which enables an easy way to target and schedule communications as part of the news feed on media sites. Readpeak is a company founded in Helsinki in 2014, which has since expanded to nine European market areas and collaborates with over a thousand publishers. Readpeak redefines content-driven advertising using advanced machine learning models, creating added value for both quality media and journalism. Voland Partners is a minority investor specialising in the development of technology companies, with a mission to work together with entrepreneurs to build successful companies responsibly, creating success stories that benefit the entire society. Readpeak is Voland Partners’ sixth investment target, into which the fund company is investing from its first growth fund of 57 million euros.
Case published 10.4.2025