In Europe, the M&A year 2016 has not started off quite as well as many had hoped. In H1 2016, European investment activity was down by 19 percent in deal value compared to the same period in 2015. The continent’s M&A was dragged down by the uncertainty created by the UK’s EU referendum, as well as the US government’s clampdown on tax inversion deals.
14.7.2016
M&A World Is Waking up to Smell the Potential in Finland
Carola Lindholm & Jan Örndahl
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Brexit especially slowed down investments made to the UK. Following a record 2015, UK M&A activity during the first half of the year recorded 638 deals worth approximately EUR 50 billion, a near 70 percent decline compared to H1 2015 and its lowest deal value since 2010.
During this economic slump and uncertainty, the Nordics remained stable compared to the slow economic growth and market volatility within Europe. The Nordic region attracted 497 deals worth EUR 38 billion, which represented a good 40 percent increase by value compared to H1 2015. The region represented 12 % of the total M&A value on the European deal making scene. Therefore, the Nordics has become an increasingly attractive M&A destination.
Four M&A Trends in Finland in 2016
A recent blog post on the Huffington post by Ira Kalb declares Finland to be the World’s Best Kept Secret, stating that Finnish products and companies haven’t been able to market themselves abroad as well as they should have – and deserve. However, in the light of recent Mergermarket M&A trend report for H1 2016, this seems not to ring entirely true.
Finland recorded 76 deals in the first half of 2016 worth EUR 11.2 billion, an almost 370% increase by value compared to H1 2015 (84 deals, EUR 2.4 billion). The highest valued deal of the first quarter was the EUR 646 million acquisition of the Kevitsa mine by the Sweden-based company Boliden. The statistics for the second quarter were again dominated by the sale of majority stake in Supercell, a company valued at USD 10,2 billion, by the Japanese telecom giant SoftBank to Chinese internet giant Tencent.
While the Finnish M&A landscape was dominated during H1 by some large-cap deals, some of which we had the privilege to work on, such deals often blur the rest of the statistics and thus may distract from other, sometimes more solid, or at least interesting, trends.
From our perspective, we have seen the following trends in this year’s Finnish M&A activity.
Sources:
Mergermarket H1 2016 M&A trend report + other Mergermarket deal insights
Thomson Reuters Mid-Market M&A Review, H1 2016
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Ålandsbanken – Consent solicitation process regarding T2 instruments and issue of SEK 350 million AT1 notes
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SuperOffice – Acquisition of Lyyti
We acted as Finnish counsel to SuperOffice AS, backed by Axcel, in its acquisition of Lyyti Oy from Finnish private equity firm Vaaka Partners and other sellers. Lyyti is a leading event management software company for physical, digital and hybrid events with a strong customer base in Finland, Sweden and France. SuperOffice is a leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software for small and medium-sized businesses across Northern Europe. Axcel is a Nordic private equity firm with a focus on technology, business services and industrials, healthcare, and consumer sectors.
Case published 9.12.2025
Life Finland – Administration of bankruptcy estate
Life Finland Oy, a retailer of natural products, other health-related products and cosmetics, filed for bankruptcy on its own initiative in June 2025, and our attorney, counsel Elina Pesonen was appointed administrator of the bankruptcy estate. Life Finland Oy was part of the international Life Group, and its parent company Life Europe AB was declared bankrupt in Sweden in June 2025. When declared bankrupt, Life Finland Oy had over 30 operational stores and almost 170 employees across Finland. In addition to the premises of the operational stores, the company had several other leased premises, such as retail premises it was vacating as well as office and warehouse spaces. The bankruptcy estate organised clearance sales in all of the company’s stores. The shutdown of the stores and the clearance sales were efficiently carried out in approximately two weeks in cooperation with the company’s country manager, regional managers and sales staff. The clearance sales yielded a significant liquidation result, and consumers bought nearly the entire inventory. The administration of the bankruptcy estate has required expertise in many areas. The proceedings have dealt with specialised issues such as cash pooling arrangements, intellectual property, franchising agreements, employment relationships and consumer creditors. In addition, the proceedings are notably international, as the estate administrator has organised the shutdown of operations and the liquidation of assets in close cooperation with the estate administrators of the Swedish Group companies. The cooperation has included, among other things, exploring opportunities for selling the business, the sale of intangible rights and the coordination of intra-group agreements.
Case published 9.12.2025