General Meeting Arrangements

General Meeting Arrangements

When the practical arrangements of a general meeting are expertly handled, it is easier for the directors to focus on the essentials.

We advise boards of directors and other management of limited liability companies in all issues relating to organising annual and extraordinary general meetings. We ensure that the general meeting runs smoothly and is in compliance with applicable regulations. The company’s directors can focus fully on the matters discussed in the meeting and on dialogue with the shareholders.

Our experts regularly serve as chair or secretary in the general meetings of both listed and unlisted companies. We have several decades of experience in preparing, organising and documenting general meetings of various sizes. We are well versed in the meeting routines of general meetings both small and very large and have extensive knowledge of the applicable regulations. The range of services is tailored to meet the needs of each client: if necessary, we will take care of all practical matters relating to organising the general meeting, but we can also simply offer support by advising in specific issues or by commenting on required documents.

Latest references

We act as the lead legal counsel in the groundbreaking case of Multitude SE’s (Multitude) proposed relocation from Finland to Switzerland. The first phase of the relocation, involving the transfer of Multitude’s registered office from Finland to Malta pursuant to SE Regulation, was successfully completed on 30 June 2024. In this connection, Multitude’s shares were removed from the Finnish book-entry system and the issuer central securities depository of the shares changed from Euroclear Finland Oy to the CSD operated by the Malta Stock Exchange. In practice, all of Multitude’s shares are now held through Clearstream. In Malta, the company is anticipated to be converted into a public limited liability company under Maltese law, following which it will seek redomiciliation from Malta to Switzerland. Given that Finnish legislation does not allow for direct relocation to a non-European Economic Area country such as Switzerland while preserving the company’s legal personality, the process necessitated a multi-jurisdictional strategy as outlined above. Our mandate encompasses advising Multitude on all aspects governed by Finnish law concerning the proposed relocation and coordinating the work of local legal counsel and various other advisors involved in the project. The process also involved a written procedure to amend Multitude’s existing subordinated capital notes and senior bonds to facilitate the relocation as well as placement of EUR 80 million senior guaranteed notes by a newly established Multitude Capital Oyj. ”The transfer to Malta marks a significant step in Multitude’s journey. This pioneering and complex process has been successfully implemented with the invaluable support of our own team and advisors. Castrén & Snellman has masterfully orchestrated the entire project, ensuring seamless coordination across multiple jurisdictions. We look forward to achieving our next step with the further relocation to Switzerland”, says Jorma Jokela, Multitude’s CEO. Multitude is a fully regulated growth platform for financial technology, employing over 700 individuals across 25 countries. Its shares are listed on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Case published 1.7.2024
In this past general meeting season, we have advised and assisted numerous Finnish companies listed on the official list of the Helsinki Stock Exchange and the First North growth market in arranging their annual general meetings. Our partners have served as chairpersons of annual general meetings, and the experts of our Corporate Governance service have participated in the preparations for and as secretaries of the general meetings and have also supervised the counting of votes and scrutinised the minutes of general meetings held under the temporary act enacted in response to the pandemic. Our task has been to ensure that the general meeting runs smoothly and in accordance with applicable regulation. In the spring of 2021, we particularly advised our clients in organising remote meetings. We also advised unlisted companies. We have supported our clients in their general meeting arrangements for many years.
Case published 29.11.2021
We successfully represented a panel of reinsurance companies in an international ad hoc arbitration. The dispute arose out of a reinsurance treaty under the terms of which the reinsurers had reinsured a portfolio of risks underwritten by the cedent. The parties disagreed as to whether the reinsurance provided coverage for a certain loss that had occurred because of the market turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The case involved highly complex legal and contractual questions requiring special expertise on reinsurance law and practice. The arbitral tribunal rejected the counterparty’s claims for reinsurance compensation against our clients in full. The amount in dispute was approximately EUR 34 million.
Case published 16.9.2025
We supported byFounders.vc as the Finnish counsel in their investment in DataCrunch Oy in a USD 64 million Series A funding round. DataCrunch provides scalable AI compute solutions from energy-efficient data centers in Iceland and Finland. byFounders.vc is the community-powered early-stage venture fund investing in globally ambitious teams connected to the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Case published 11.9.2025