Lotta Manu

Senior Associate, Member of the Finnish Bar

As a member of our Tax & Structuring team, I advise our clients in wide range of tax and structuring matters. I have experience in domestic and international corporate taxation.

Before joining Castrén & Snellman, I worked as a tax specialist for a Big Four accounting firm where I specialised in international corporate tax and transfer pricing.

In addition to my studies at the University of Helsinki, I have studied law at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Latest references

We acted as Finnish counsel to Pernod Ricard in the sale of a portfolio of local Nordic brands to Oy Hartwall Ab, an affiliate of the Danish group Royal Unibrew. Pernod Ricard is a worldwide leader in the spirits and wine industry. The local portfolio of brands includes spirits, liqueurs and Finnish wine brands, the best-known being the liqueur Minttu, along with their related production assets based in Turku, Finland. The closing of the transaction remains subject to customary conditions.
Case published 21.10.2024
We advised Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) in its investment in the heavy duty vehicles company Oy Sisu Auto Ab. With this investment, Tesi became an owner in the company with a share of 24.4 per cent. Sisu Auto is a pioneer in the Nordic market in the development of heavy duty vehicles. Sisu’s core competences are in the product development and production of trucks and military vehicles. Tesi is a state-owned, market-driven investment company that invests in venture capital and private equity funds and directly in Finnish startups and growth companies. The investments managed by Tesi total 2.1 billion euros.
Case published 19.8.2024
We advised Andritz Oy, a part of ANDRITZ group, with their acquisition of all the shares in Procemex Oy. The acquisition further strengthens ANDRITZ’s automation and digitalisation portfolio. Procemex is a global leader in integrated web monitoring and web inspection solutions for the pulp and paper industry. It has a team of more than 100 vision systems experts and has subsidiaries in Germany, Japan and the US. ANDRITZ offers a broad portfolio of innovative plants, equipment, systems, services and digital solutions for a wide range of industries and end markets. ANDRITZ is a global market leader in all four of its business areas – Pulp & Paper, Metals, Hydropower and Environment & Energy. The publicly listed group has around 30,000 employees and over 280 locations in more than 80 countries.
Case published 18.7.2024
We advised Avesco AG in a transaction whereby it acquired all the shares in Vatupassi Törmälä Oy. We also advised Avesco AG in the corporate structuring following the transaction. Vatupassi Törmälä Oy is a Finnish equipment rental company specialising in the rental of construction equipment. It has offices in five locations in Central Finland. Avesco AG is a family owned, leading machinery rental company in Switzerland. The company employs over 1,100 employees in Switzerland, Austria, Finland and the Baltics. Avesco AG is also the official partner of machinery manufacturer Caterpillar. After the transaction Avesco Rent Oy and Vatupassi Törmälä Oy will be merged and the operations are continued under the Vatupassi brand.
Case published 13.6.2024
We acted as Zendesk, Inc.’s Finnish legal counsel in its acquisition of Ultimate Enterprises Oy, an industry leading provider of service automation using AI technology. The cross-border acquisition was completed in cooperation with the transaction’s lead counsel Allen & Overy. Zendesk is a leading global technology company that provides software-as-a-service and customer experience (CX) products based in the US. The acquisition of Ultimate expands Zendesk’s AI-powered CX offerings.
Case published 26.3.2024
We advised Oomi Oy in a partial demerger where Oomi’s solar power business for corporate customers demerged and formed a new independent company, Oomi Solar Oy. As part of the partial demerger process, we assisted Oomi in pre-emptive discussions with the tax authorities where the tax treatment of the restructuring was confirmed. Oomi Solar, the demerged company, focuses on implementing solar power plants for real estate properties, ground-level solar power plants and industrial solar power parks and supports companies and entities in their transition towards renewable energy. Oomi Solar started operations on 1 January 2024.
Case published 12.2.2024
We acted as the legal and ESG advisor to Mérieux Equity Partners on the acquisition of a majority stake in Labquality through a leveraged buyout by its buyout fund, Mérieux Participations 4. Existing shareholders of Labquality, including Cor Group and the management, will reinvest a portion of their proceeds into the company in connection with the transaction. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Labquality is a Nordic player specialized in EQA, CRO activities and regulatory affairs, with a strong local presence in Central and Eastern Europe. The company provides a comprehensive array of services for the healthcare, medical technology, and pharmaceutical industries. The company, employing over 120 professionals and supported by a network of more than 150 external experts and consultants across its offices in Finland, Germany, and Poland, serves a diverse clientele of over 8,000 customers, including major pharmaceutical companies in over 60 countries. Mérieux Equity Partners (MxEP) is an AMF-accredited management company dedicated to equity investments in the Healthcare and Nutrition sectors. MxEP actively supports entrepreneurs and companies with differentiated products and services, giving them privileged access to its sector expertise and international network. The transaction will enable Labquality to pursue its buy & build strategy in Europe to accelerate its CRO activities while continuing strong and recurring growth in the EQA segment. Labquality will benefit from MxEP’s sector expertise and financial resources to achieve its ambition of becoming a leading European CRO and EQA platform, with fully integrated regulatory consulting capabilities to serve major customers across Europe.
Case published 4.12.2023
We advised the sellers on the sale of Speechly, a Helsinki-based AI voice technology startup, to Roblox Corporation. Speechly, founded in 2016, provides accurate real-time automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding tools and APIs. In 2021, the Finnish news media Talouselämä selected the company as one of the ten most promising Finnish startups. Speechly was admitted to Y Combinator in 2022 and its investors include Cherry Ventures, SNÖ Ventures, TQ Ventures, Seedcamp, Quantum Angels, Joyance Partners, Social Starts and Tiny.vc.
Case published 21.9.2023