FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Timo Lehtimäki, Niklas Thibblin, Essi Hietaoja and Oona Honkamaa, Waselius
8. Case Studies and Practical Insights 8.1 Notable Case Studies Most private credit transactions are not made public by their parties, so only very limited case studies can be cited. However, the authors have seen a clear trend of major, typically London- based private credit providers entering the Finn - ish market to provide financing, in particular for acquisitions by private equity. The provided acquisition facilities have been coupled with bank-provided super-senior revolving credit facilities, and commonly include delayed draw, pre-agreed incremental facilities or accordion features, especially when the borrower is con - templating bolt-on acquisition. As an interesting non-acquisition finance case, a London-based private credit fund specialising in asset-backed lending transactions provided a senior secured financing of up to EUR200 mil - lion to a Finnish financial services company, to enable it to lend to Finnish small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) in turn. The structure was quite different from a typical acquisition financing. Additionally, a number of private credit firms, as well as one of the largest private equity and venture capital firms in Finland, have become increasingly active in providing credit to SMEs in Finland. These companies are bridging the gap for businesses that traditionally struggled with bank financing. 8.2 Lessons Learned Private credit often offers more flexibility com - pared to traditional banks. In many recent trans - actions, companies have opted for private credit solutions, as they allow for more customised terms that fit better with their specific needs (eg,
ing, the court may still accept the restructuring programme even if each class of creditor did not approve it, so long as at least one creditor group voted in favour of the programme (as per the above) and the claims of all creditors who voted in favour of the restructuring programme account for at least one fifth of all eligible claims (provided that there are no impediments to the acceptance of the programme). The decisions by the court in relation to the restructuring proceedings or restructuring pro - gramme can be appealed by any party with a vested interest in the matter, as provided by the general procedural rules of Finnish law. 7.10 Expedited Restructurings The normal course of the restructuring process can be deviated from under certain conditions specified by law, when the parties involved aim to start the restructuring process or to confirm the restructuring programme more quickly than usual. The so-called expedited restructuring process ( nopeutettu saneerausmenettely ) is a type of combined voluntary and statutory restructuring, where a draft programme prepared outside the process is submitted for court approval. This entails that all the acceleration methods avail - able under the Restructuring Act can be utilised at the district court stage, significantly shorten - ing the duration of this phase. The expedited restructuring process is gener - ally only useful in situations where the company is – despite its financial difficulties – still able to agree on debt arrangements and business restructuring measures with its major creditors. In practice, expedited restructuring processes are carried out quite infrequently.
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