FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Christoffer Waselius, Jaakko Huhtala and Niko Markkanen, Waselius
Waselius Eteläesplanadi 24 A 00130 Helsinki Finland Tel: +358 9 668 9520 Fax: +358 9 668 95 222 Email: info@waselius.fi Web: www.waselius.fi
1. Transaction Activity 1.1 Private Equity Transactions and M&A Deals in General 2023 Finnish M&A transaction volumes reached histori - cally low levels in 2023, with the market slowdown evident across all sectors. The Finnish weekly busi - ness magazine, Talouselämä, predicted in October 2023 that the year would finish off with approximately 33% less deals compared to the figures in 2022. In addition, according to statistics published by the Finn - ish Venture Capital Association, Finnish start-up and growth companies received a total of EUR871 million in investments in 2023, an almost 50% decrease to the record high EUR1.7 billion the year before. 2024 Uncertainty in the Finnish M&A market continued throughout 2024 with the end of the year seeing an uptick in activity and demonstrating signs of recovery. However, the value gap between sellers and buyers remained to be bridged and the unfavourable finan - cial conditions continued to affect the market. M&A activity within the industrial and professional services industries remained strong, with energy, transporta - tion, technology and healthcare industries having the largest year-over-year growth. The Finnish weekly business magazine Talouselämä predicted in October 2024 that the number of deals in 2024 would remain at approximately 385, which would have been a slight 9% decrease compared to the figures in 2023.
2025 and the Outlook for 2026 The positive trend in H2/2024 carried on into the first half of 2025 which saw strong upward momentum and growing M&A activity driven by an improving eco - nomic outlook and more favourable financing condi - tions, suggesting a positive outlook for the remain - der of 2025. The strong start to 2025 is expected to carry on to the second half of 2025 and even 2026, supported by, eg, a decrease in the cost of capital and private equity exit pressures. However, global geopolitical instability, political uncertainty in the US, elevated inflation and global market volatility due to trade wars pose challenges to the promising rebound in Finnish M&A activity. 1.2 Market Activity and Impact of Macro- Economic Factors The slowdown of M&A activity in Finland has affected all industries, with industrial and professional servic - es sectors taking the biggest hit. The ongoing global political turbulence and economic uncertainties have markedly slowed down both private and public M&A activity. However, market activity has been on the rise since the end of 2024 and the outlook is positive albeit uncertain due to, eg, geopolitical instability and trade wars. Examples of significant transactions in Finland in 2024 included the sale of Touhula Varhaiskasvatus to Aca - deMedia AB, Summa Equity’s EUR800 million acquisi - tion of Fortum’s Recycling and Waste Business, KKR’s acquisition of a majority stake in Accountor Software, and the USD665 million sale of Silo AI to AMD Inc. Significant transactions in Finland so far in 2025 have
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