Ilona Karppinen

Partner, Member of the Finnish Bar

Services

  1. Dispute Resolution
  2. Corporate Governance
  3. ESG and Corporate Sustainability

Contact details

I specialise in dispute resolution and general corporate law. I advise our clients in major commercial disputes ranging across a variety of different business sectors, for example, the energy sector. In addition, I have successfully handled disputes related to private enforcement of competition law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate liabilities, outsourcing and the procurement of data systems.

I assist our clients in managing their commercial disputes in domestic and international proceedings. I act as counsel in settlement negotiations, mediation, litigation, arbitration and authority investigations. I also act as an arbitrator in resolving commercial disputes.

In the field of corporate law, I advise clients in legal matters related to corporate structuring, corporate governance and directors’ liability.

Our clients value my analytical and strategical approach. I strive to find innovative and business-driven solutions to our clients’ challenges. The Legal 500 and Euromoney Legal Media Group have ranked me as a Rising Star in Dispute Resolution.

I am actively involved in the world’s largest lawyers’ professional organisation, the International Bar Association, where I have held various officer positions in the IBA Litigation Committee. I was also a member of the working group that modernised the Arbitration Rules of the Finland Chamber of Commerce, in force as of 1 January 2020. In addition, I have published a number of articles in international professional publications regarding private enforcement of competition law, investment disputes, cost-efficiency in arbitration and the effects of the financial crisis on Finnish corporate governance.

Latest references

Peptonic Medical – Acquisition of Majority Stake in Lune Group
We advised Peptonic Medical AB (publ), a Swedish medical development company, in the acquisition of a majority stake in Lune Group Oy Ltd, a Finnish company that sells the Lunette menstrual cup. The acquisition allows Peptonic to grow and expand its product portfolio by enabling the merger of two strong women’s health and selfcare brands with several synergies. In addition, the acquisition gives Peptonic access to a global distribution network that is already up and running, including in the United States. Peptonic is listed on the Spotlight Stock Market in Stockholm, Sweden. Lune Group was founded in 2005 by CEO Heli Kurjanen and has earned its place as a top global menstrual cup company through its continued focus on quality, safety, sustainability and inclusivity. Lune Group Oy Ltd has a subsidiary in North America. The completion of the acquisition is subject to certain customary conditions and is expected to occur during June 2020.
Case published 18.5.2020
Stora Enso – Supreme Court Dismissed Metsähallitus’ Application for Leave to Appeal in the Roundwood Case
The Finnish Supreme Court rendered a decision on 29 January 2019 in which it dismissed Metsähallitus’ application for leave to appeal in an antitrust damages trial where Metsähallitus claimed damages from Stora Enso Oyj, UPM-Kymmene Oyj and Metsäliitto Cooperative based on a competition infringement on the Finnish roundwood market. The Supreme Court’s decision means that the case has been finally resolved. The forestry companies are not obligated to pay Metsähallitus damages due to the competition infringement. Metsähallitus originally claimed damages amounting to nearly 283 million euros jointly and severally from the forestry companies due to the alleged undercharge paid by the forestry companies for roundwood during 1997–2005. The Helsinki District Court dismissed Metsähallitus’ claim in its judgment of 22 June 2016 and ordered Metsähallitus to compensate the forestry companies’ legal costs in full. Metsähallitus appealed the District Court’s judgement to the Helsinki Court of Appeal, which rendered its judgment on 21 May 2018. The Court of Appeal did not change the District Court’s judgment, dismissed Metsähallitus’ appeal and ordered Metsähallitus to compensate the forestry companies’ legal costs also in the Court of Appeal in full. With the Supreme Court’s decision, the Court of Appeal’s judgement is now final. The Helsinki District Court dismissed damages claims by a group of Finnish private forest owners and a group of Finnish municipalities against the forestry companies in relation to the same competition restriction in its judgements of 2017. These judgements have gained legal force. Castrén & Snellman successfully represented Stora Enso in every stage of the trials.   This is the largest antitrust damages case ever tried in Finland. Read more about the earlier stages of the case.
Case published 30.1.2019
Stora Enso – Helsinki Court of Appeal Dismissed Metsähallitus’ Damages Claim against Stora Enso
We successfully represented Stora Enso Oyj in an extensive antitrust damages trial in which Metsähallitus claimed a capital amount of nearly 125 million euros in damages jointly and severally from Finnish forestry companies Stora Enso, UPM-Kymmene Oyj and Metsäliitto Cooperative based on the forestry companies allegedly having purchased roundwood from Metsähallitus below market prices in 1997–2005. The Helsinki District Court dismissed Metsähallitus’ claim in its entirety on 22 June 2016 and ordered Metsähallitus to compensate the forestry companies’ legal costs in full. Metsähallitus appealed the District Court’s decision to the Helsinki Court of Appeal, which upheld the District Court’s decision. Metsähallitus filed its claim against the forestry companies in March of 2011, so this exceptionally extensive case took over seven years before the Court of Appeal rendered its judgment. Outset In its final decision from 2009, the Market Court found that Stora Enso, UPM-Kymmene and Metsäliitto Cooperative had exchanged information on the Finnish roundwood market during 1997–2004 in a manner prohibited by the Competition Restrictions Act. In its follow-on damages claim, Metsähallitus alleged that the forestry companies had purchased roundwood from Metsähallitus below market prices during and after the competition infringement found by the Market Court. Helsinki District Court dismissed Metsähallitus’ claim by a unanimous decision on 22 June 2016 and ordered Metsähallitus to compensate the forestry companies’ legal costs of 8.5 million euros from hearing the case in the District Court in full. Metsähallitus appealed the District Court’s decision to the Helsinki Court of Appeal. In the Court of Appeal, Metsähallitus primarily claimed a capital amount of nearly 125 million euros in damages jointly and severally from the forestry companies for the roundwood purchases allegedly made from Metsähallitus below market prices. Metsähallitus’ secondary claims were separate based on the roundwood transactions it had made with each defendant company. The secondary claim against Stora Enso amounted to approximately 68 million euros, which covered over half of the total amount claimed by Metsähallitus. In addition to the capital amounts of the damages claim, Metsähallitus claimed profit and penalty interest, which increased the amount of Metsähallitus’ overall claim significantly. During the trial, Metsähallitus had reduced its claims substantially. The initial amount claimed jointly and severally by Metsähallitus at the District Court totalled nearly 283 million euros. However, during the District Court proceedings, Metsähallitus specified its claims and jointly and severally claimed a total amount of approximately 159 million euros. At the Court of Appeal, Metsähallitus further reduced its claims by approximately 34 million euros, since this amount of the claims was found to be statute barred based on Supreme Court ruling KKO 2016:11. This Supreme Court’s preliminary ruling concerning the statute of limitation of compensation debt was issued in another trial concerning the same competition infringement. We also successfully represented Stora Enso in this trial. Results The Helsinki Court of Appeal rendered its judgment in the matter on 21 May 2018. The Court of Appeal upheld the District Court’s decision and dismissed Metsähallitus’ appeal and claim. The Court of Appeal also obligated Metsähallitus to compensate the forestry companies’ legal costs from hearing the case in the Court of Appeal in full. The forestry companies’ legal costs in the Court of Appeal were approximately 4 million euros in total. The Court of Appeal was presented essentially with the same evidence as the District Court. The evidence on the alleged harm from the competition infringement was very extensive and consisted of both factual evidence as well as a considerable amount of expert evidence regarding the roundwood market and economic analyses. The Court of Appeal accepted the position taken by Stora Enso and the other forestry companies and unanimously dismissed Metsähallitus’ claims. In its judgement, the Court of Appeal evaluated the evidence in detail and for the most part in the same manner as the District Court. Based on the evidence, the Court of Appeal found that Metsähallitus had not produced sufficient evidence to prove that Metsähallitus would have suffered damage in the delivery sales between Metsähallitus and the forestry companies due to the violation of the Act on Competition Restrictions. The damages trial between Metsähallitus and the forestry companies is one of the largest damages cases related to a competition infringement ever tried in Finland.
Case published 1.6.2018
Stora Enso – Helsinki District Court Dismissed Metsähallitus’ Claim for Damages against Stora Enso
We successfully represented Stora Enso Oyj in an extensive damages trial in which Metsähallitus claimed a capital amount of nearly 160 million euros in damages jointly and severally from Finnish forestry companies Stora Enso, UPM-Kymmene Oyj and Metsäliitto Cooperative based on the forestry companies allegedly having purchased roundwood from Metsähallitus below market prices in 1997–2005. The Helsinki District Court dismissed Metsähallitus’ claim in its entirety on 22 June 2016 and ordered Metsähallitus to compensate the forestry companies’ legal costs in full. Metsähallitus filed its claim against the forestry companies in March of 2011, so this exceptionally large case took over five years in the court of first instance.
Case published 29.6.2016
Gasum – Acquisition of Hærup Biogas
We advised Gasum Oy in its acquisition of 100% of the shares in Hærup Biogas ApS, which owns and operates a biogas plant in the northern part of mainland Denmark. This acquisition marks Gasum’s first biogas plant in Denmark, expanding its biogas production portfolio. Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring seven terawatt hours of renewable gas to the Nordic market yearly by 2027. The acquisition is one step towards achieving the strategic goal. Gasum is a Nordic gas sector and energy market expert. Gasum offers cleaner energy and energy market expert services for industry and for combined heat and power production as well as cleaner fuel solutions for road and maritime transport. The company helps its customers to reduce their own carbon footprint as well as that of their customers. 
Case published 3.12.2024
Helkama-Autokauppa – Acquisition of Škoda Dealerships in Helsinki and Tampere
We are advising Helkama-Autokauppa Oy in the acquisition of the Škoda dealerships in Helsinki and Tampere from Hedin Automotive Finland. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. Helkama-Autokauppa Oy operates as an independent dealer in the dealer network of Helkama-Auto Oy, the Finnish importer of Škoda cars, spare parts and accessories.
Case published 3.12.2024
Huhtamaki – EUR 450 million sustainability-linked syndicated revolving credit facility
We advised Huhtamaki Oyj in relation to a EUR 450 million sustainability-linked syndicated multi-currency revolving credit facility loan agreement (“RCF”) with a maturity of five years. The RCF refinances an existing EUR 400 million sustainability-linked syndicated revolving credit facility signed in January 2021 and will be used for general corporate purposes of the Group. The RCF has two one-year extension options at the discretion of the lenders. The Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners of the RCF are Citi, Nordea Bank Abp, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ), BNP Paribas, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Danske Bank A/S, DBS Bank Ltd., London Branch, J.P. Morgan SE, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale, OP Corporate Bank plc, Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Standard Chartered Bank AG.
Case published 28.11.2024
A large Finnish group – Construction contract dispute
We represented a mutual real estate company belonging to a large Finnish group in arbitration proceedings against a construction company. The arbitral tribunal rejected the construction company’s claims in their entirety and ordered the construction company to reimburse our client for the costs of the arbitration proceedings in full. The dispute concerned the contract price under the construction contract, which was agreed to be determined on the basis of our client’s yield requirement and the rent under the lease agreement for the building in question. The parties disagreed on the indexation clause applicable to the rent adjustment and its impact on the contract price.
Case published 22.11.2024

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