EDITORIAL

What You Need Is a TPH and Don't Forget CSR

Are you an abbreviation nerd always concerned that people who know the most recent new abbreviations know something you don't? In that case, read on.

For any company, an M&A transaction can be the most dramatic and risky event of its lifespan. This is true irrespective of whether the company in question is the purchaser, the seller or the target of the transaction.

A diligent purchaser goes to great lengths to evaluate all of the legal and regulatory risks and opportunities involved in the target business. Such a systematic overall evaluation of the business is seldom done in any other situation.

One trend is that due diligence is getting more and more focused and concentrated on spotting the relevant system errors and major risks entailed in and affecting the target and its business. At the same time there is increased focus on identifying issues that may bring a competitive edge.

All of the identified issues are ultimately gathered, concentrated and extracted into the transaction document. The method is quite similar to how the fancy top chefs reduce their sauces.

From a business law firm's perspective the main transaction document is the one single document that encompasses all of the disciplines that we work with on a daily basis; contracts, corporate, capital markets, finance, tax, competition, data protection, dispute resolution, IPR, real estate and environment, just to mention a few.

What you need in order to understand and identify the most relevant commercial, contractual, legal and tax aspects of the target business, is people with sound judgment, individuals and teams that can create a relevant overall view. You need insightful people with experience, broad knowledge and cutting-edge technical skills. In my experience insightfulness and sound judgment are key to allowing for a relevant analysis of the vast amount of information available and to identifying the best way to tackle or circumvent the issues in the transaction.

There is another interesting trend as well working in the same direction, the increased focus by companies on CSR – corporate social responsibility. CSR forces us lawyers to give advice that is wiser and more sustainable, and that withstand the test of time. Imagine what this means to us business lawyers! We have a whole new playing field that is no longer limited to what is technically right and wrong. We are increasingly being listened to also when the broader picture is being discussed. We are in the process of reclaiming our position as consiglieri to the key management of our client companies.

The most valuable advice in M&A is rendered by a TPH, a one stop shop insightful, reliable, proactive and dedicated partner to the management of the company going through some of its most difficult and complex moments.

It is quite a challenge! But we at D&I are ready - bring it on - we accept the challenge and are happy to take on the role as your TPH.

D&I: Your TRANSACTION POWERHOUSE

Jan Ollila

Senior Partner, Head of M&A & Private Equity

SUBSTANCE MATTERS

Paris Climate Agreement Paved a Way for Circular Economy and Cleantech

The adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015 was widely considered as a historic turning point in the goal of reducing global warming. Although the agreement is due to enter into force only in 2020, the states as well as several companies are already implementing their efforts to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions. Circular economy is one of the main megatrends of our time and Finland is aiming to be a cleantech superpower already by 2020.

Read the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra's report "What does the Paris climate agreement mean for Finland and the European Union?"

In Paris, the states agreed upon global aims and goals for the fight against climate change. The agreement requires the states to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, to strengthen the societies’ ability to deal with the impacts of climate change and to mobilize financing for climate-resilient development.

Already before the Paris negotiations, the Finnish government decided to strive for a standing as the forerunner in intelligent and ecologically sustainable solutions. Finland wants to show that economic growth is compatible with low-carbon and climate-resilient pathway.

Circular Economy Means Savings for Yourself and the Environment

Circular economy became a topic a few years ago when the European Commission published Manifesto for a Resource Efficient Europe. The idea behind circular economy is to maximize the circulation of products, components and materials as well as their value in the economy as long as possible. The aim in the production of goods and services is to produce as little waste and residual material as possible. In many cases, different intelligent solutions can lower the waste handling costs while simultaneously creating additional value.

For instance, waste water may contain valuable raw materials, such as minerals, and latent heat which both can be recovered and reused in own production or by a third party. This all means less waste water which saves both the ecosystem and money.

It should be noted that the Finnish Waste Act already requires the companies primarily to reduce the quantity and harmfulness of waste in its activities. The waste generated must first be prepared for reuse or recycling or, as a last option, recovered in other ways such as energy. Only if the recovery is not possible, the waste may be disposed.

It is presumable that the authorities will in future pursue companies to comply with the above-mentioned order of priority. On the other hand, more and more companies have already realized the actual value of the waste and residual flows in their business.

Renewable Energy in Liftoff

Energy-efficiency is one of the key elements in circular economy, and the energy required should be produced from renewable sources. In spring 2016, the researchers announced that Finland exceeded its 2020 renewable energy target of 38 % already in 2014. It is now the only country to both overachieve its target while also exceeding the EU average increase in renewables share.

In particular, we have seen a boom of new wind farm projects in Finland. In 2015, the production of wind power more than doubled compared to 2014, and now wind power represents approximately 3 % of the Finnish electricity consumption. More and more companies are also interested in starting their own renewable electricity production. Ikea, for instance, decided to build a 13-turbine wind farm to Kemi in Northern Finland which after its completion will cover all of Ikea’s electricity consumption in Finland.

Although the current feed-in tariff scheme for wind power has already been closed, there is consensus about the need for new investing or operating aid for renewables.

Helsinki - the Smart and Clean Window for the World

In May 2016, the cities in the Finnish capital region together with the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the Finnish state and several companies established Smart & Clean Foundation to foster smart and clean innovations. The founding parties strive to create a genuine global test platform and reference area for intelligent and ecologically sustainable solutions concerning transport, food, housing and energy.

During its five-year operating time, the fund will compile and produce projects that will create business opportunities in the region. By 2020, Helsinki capital region should be a showcase of solutions for urbanizing world to reduce its dependence on fossil energy. Of course, the aim is also to make the capital region more attractive to investments, establish new business and create more jobs.

It is clear that the Paris Climate Agreement and all the discussions around it have paved a way to circular economy and cleantech. Smart & Clean Foundation and other public measures are, however, just small steps in the pathway to more sustainable business. The insight for real innovations lies within the Finnish companies. Have you already considered your company’s steps?

New Support Scheme for Renewables under Planning

A report on the possible new support schemes for industrial scale renewable electricity production in Finland was published in May. The current feed-in tariff scheme for wind power is practically full and also the future schemes for other renewables are under consideration.

The report suggests discretionary investment aid for demonstration projects and the commercialisation of new energy technology. For increasing the share of renewable energy, a certificate system similar to Sweden and Norway or a new operating aid scheme based on a technology-neutral competitive bidding process were suggested. The subsidy level in the operating aid scheme could be a sliding premium tied to, for instance, the electricity market price, a fixed premium or a combination of these two.

The scope of the new support scheme will be outlined in the new National Energy and Climate Strategy to be issued this year. The draft proposal for the new support scheme legislation is expected to be issued in the beginning of 2017 and the final proposal during autumn 2017.

Read the the Ministry of Employment and the Economy press release on May 2016.

Teemu Oksanen

Associate

RIGHT NOW

D&I Signs the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge

D&I is delighted to announce that it is one of the first law firms in Finland to sign the Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge.

The Pledge urges the international arbitration community to take actions to commit to: (a) improving the profile and representation of women in arbitration; and (b) increasing, on an equal opportunity basis, the number of women appointed as arbitrators.

The Pledge

The Pledge was officially launched at a cocktail reception in London on 18 May 2016. I attended the Pledge reception that was organised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and attended by over 200 people.

"D&I is committed to taking concrete steps to ensure equal representation of women on tribunals."

The Pledge campaign highlights the problem that whilst only 20 % of dispute resolution partners at law firms worldwide are women (which itself needs improvement), mere 10 % of sitting arbitrators are women. When the parties themselves select the arbitrators, rather than the institutions, the proportion of women appointed as arbitrators is even lesser. These figures are derived from the statistics of all the leading arbitration institutes.

The Pledge aspires to change all that. The founders of the Pledge recognise that as there is no regulator in charge of arbitrator appointments, it is up to the arbitration community to control the appointments and ensure a fairer representation of women on tribunals.

Consequently, the Pledge is a collaborative effort between global representatives of corporate entities, states, arbitral institutions, arbitration practitioners and academics. The signatories to the Pledge commit to taking the following concrete and actionable steps to "ensure that, wherever possible:

  • Committees, governing bodies and conference panels in the field of arbitration include a fair representation of women.
  • Lists of potential arbitrators or tribunal chairs provided to, or considered by, parties, counsel, in-house counsel or otherwise include a fair representation of female candidates.
  • States, arbitral institutions and national committees include a fair representation of female candidates on rosters and lists of potential arbitrator appointees, where maintained by them.
  • Where they have the power to do so, counsel, arbitrators, representatives of corporates, states and arbitral institutions appoint a fair representation of female arbitrators.
  • Gender statistics for appointments (split by party and other appointment) are collated and made publicly available.
  • Senior and experienced arbitration practitioners support, mentor/sponsor and encourage women to pursue arbitrator appointments and otherwise enhance their profiles and practice."

The text of the Pledge was drafted by a Steering Committee, co-chaired by Sylvia Noury, a partner in Freshfields' international arbitration group in London, and Wendy Miles QC, global head of International Arbitration at Boies Schiller & Flexner.

D&I Opened the Pledge Dialogue in Finland

D&I had the pleasure of having Ms. Miles QC speak about the Pledge on Friday 27 May, when D&I hosted 'Ladies in Arbitration' brunch in Helsinki, an event that was co-organised by the Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FAI) and the Swedish Women in Arbitration Network (SWAN) and attended by over 50 Finnish and International female arbitration practitioners and arbitrators. Along with Ms. Miles QC, Ms. Carita Wallgren-Lindholm, a distinguished Nordic arbitrator, also inspired discussions on the topic “Should we still be talking about diversity in International Arbitration?”

By signing the Pledge D&I shows a commitment to contribute towards ensuring the equal representation of women in the arbitration community by taking the concrete actions set out in the Pledge and encourages all other Finnish firms and companies involved in the international arbitration field to follow the suit. The Pledge can be signed here: http://www.arbitrationpledge.com/

Heidi Yildiz

Senior Attorney

WE ASKED

How Is Sustainability and Green Thinking Affecting a Leading Infrastructure Investor's Appetite and View on the Finnish and Nordic Markets?

Today, sustainability and green thinking permeates much of the infrastructure space globally and this trend has been very visible in Finland and elsewhere in the Nordic countries. Finland continues to be one of the hotspots for foreign infrastructure investors, in particular in the energy space, thanks to these global trends.

D&I's Mikko Eerola asked Managing Director, Infrastructure Dominic Helmsley and Investment Director Jason Cogley of SL Capital Partners, a leading European infrastructure investor, their views on the key drivers for this development and the rationale behind their current portfolio assets in the Nordics.

D&I: Could You Explain the Key Drivers for the Global Investor Community, Including You, in This Asset Class?

Originally sustainability and green thinking took the form of EU regulations and national action plans supporting the deployment of renewable energy generation but also now includes reinforcement of electric grid infrastructure, reserve power, storage and new combined cycle gas turbine plants to manage renewable generation intermittency. Green thinking now also extends to the transportation sector in the form of decarbonisation of rail networks in the UK for example. In short sustainability and green thinking is touching much of the infrastructure world, requiring new capital to implement in turn creating opportunities for investors.

From our perspective, sustainability and green thinking touches each of our three core sectors of transportation, regulated utilities and energy infrastructure.

D&I: What Makes an Interesting Investment Opportunity in This Asset Class for You?

Energy infrastructure is a core part of our investment remit and there’s an abundance of opportunities in the Nordics. A lot of time is spent identifying opportunities that display the right infrastructure characteristics for our fund: high barriers to entry, provision of a public service, good downside resilience and monopolistic tendencies. We’re looking at predominantly brownfield assets and low technology and operational risk. We’re looking for a mix of revenues frameworks from regulated to contracted and some limited merchant exposure. On investment size, we’re targeting the mid to lower mid-market and have taken controlling stakes in smaller investments but have looked to partner with others for larger targets and look at minority stakes where they have the sufficient minority protections. Finally, we are looking at returns of 9-12 %. There’s an abundance of opportunities in the Nordics that fit our remit and so we’re quite picky about what we go after.

D&I: Tell Us About Your Investments in the Nordic Countries and Rationale Behind Them

In terms of sectors, we’re currently invested in the Nordics in a Finnish gas distribution business and a platform of Norwegian operating small hydro. We’ll also look at electricity grids, onshore wind, solar, some CHP, district heating, pipelines and mid-stream storage.

D&I: Your First Finnish Investment, Gas Distribution Service Operator Auris Kaasunjakelu, Is an Interesting Conviction Play?

Absolutely, and contributing to a more sustainable energy market. We’re a believer in the importance of natural gas as a bridging and balancing fuel as Europe continues to decarbonize and so we’re on balance positive about the gas economy in Europe. We’re also encouraged by positive developments in European natural gas supply and pricing with supply side pressure decreasing prices and evidence of increasing dislocation of the cost of gas from cost of oil. In Finland in particular we’re encouraged by the introduction of biogas as a domestic and renewable source of gas which is available to our customers with favourable tax treatment. In addition, we think there is capacity to increase market penetration in Finland especially when compared to other European neighbours which could accelerate if there is a liberalisation of supply in Finland.

D&I: Your Other Nordic Investment Is Small Hydro – Are There Any Safe Harbours in Electricity Generation, Given the Development on Electricity Prices?

Our Norwegian platform of operating small hydro is a good fit because hydro is a technology that has existed as an electricity generation source for more than 130 years and so very low technology and operational risk, very long lasting and we can sell whatever we produce. There is market risk both on power and elcerts but there is a relatively deep market for hedges and so we’re able to hedge away a majority of our price risk for a 5-10 year period at sensible prices. As a June 2015 entrant to the market we’ve not suffered from the electricity price falls in Nordpool that others have been exposed to and are quite bullish about where electricity prices will go over the long run. Hydro as a very long term asset is well placed to benefit from long term price movements and a good proxy for GDP exposure.

D&I: So We Can Expect Further Activity On the Back of These Megatrends on Your Part in the Nordics?

For SL Capital Partners sustainability and green thinking transcends the energy market and we see a healthy pipeline of good quality opportunities. The Nordics remain for us an important part of the expansion of our investment platform outside the UK.

D&I advised SL Capital Partners in its first investment in Finland, the acquisition of the largest Finnish gas distribution system operator, currently Auris Kaasunjakelu Oy from state-owned gas wholesaler and transmission system operator Gasum Oy. The D&I team brought together specialist knowledge from a number of fields in order to address all relevant aspects of the deal and achieve a smooth execution of the transaction.

In addition, D&I has been involved in various roles in all recent major acquisitions of regulated network businesses in Finland.

Mikko Eerola

Mikko Eerola

Partner, Head of Energy, Infrastructure & Natural Resources

THE D&I JOURNEY

Suvi Knaapila Is the New Co-Head of D&I's Employment Practice

Suvi Knaapila, the new Co-Head of D&I’s Employment, Benefits & Pensions practice, looks at her area of expertise also from the customer’s perspective and as a supervisor.

When Suvi Knaapila began working as an associate at Ditmar & Indrenius in 2008, there were just a handful of lawyers working in the firm’s Employment, Benefits & Pensions practice. Now there are about a dozen, and Knaapila herself was appointed Co-Head of the practice in the beginning of 2016.

According to Knaapila, the growth has been driven by high quality service, precedent setting cases as well as renowned employment law partners Petteri Uoti and Seppo Havia, whom Knaapila has had the opportunity to work with closely for her entire career.

“It is great to work in a motivating environment where goals are set high and you can really focus on each customer and find practical, tailor-made solutions to their needs. I would say that we are the leading employment law practice in Finland,” Knaapila states.

As to the employment law trends that currently are at the forefront of employers' minds, Knaapila immediately lists two: non-discrimination and equal treatment.

“There aren’t really any HR-decisions where you don’t have to think about equal treatment and non-discrimination these days.”

According to Knaapila, questions related to new forms of atypical work and EU/international employment law, such as posting of employees, are also more common now than before. These questions emerge from recent legislative developments and, on the other hand, unclear applicability of the traditional employment laws to non-traditional working arrangements.

One of the most recent themes to crop up is legal challenges related to pensions, supplementary pensions in particular.

"A typical example is that the employee and the company have a different interpretation on what was promised or agreed regarding voluntary pension benefits. Also the employer's right to amend the terms and conditions of the pension plan often causes confusion. The financial impact of supplementary pension benefits on the individual employee is typically significant. This further increases the likelihood of questions and conflicts.”

The Value of Perspective

When she came to D&I, Knaapila had just graduated from the University of Helsinki, but she had already managed to gain a wide range of work experience. She returned to Finland from the Netherlands, where she had worked for a private equity fund investing in microfinance in Asian and African countries.

Her interest in employment law began earlier, when she became familiar with the field while working at another law firm specialized in employment law during her studies.

Like all new employees at D&I, Knaapila spent the first two years at work visiting all practice groups of the company. This possibility to get acquainted with all the practice areas was one of the reasons she decided to enter the firm in the first place.

“At D&I, you get to try out different areas of law for a half-year at a time, which, as I understand it, is quite exceptional in the law firm scene here. The fact that you get acquainted with other fields of law deepens your perspective on your own area of expertise and also helps you to see how colleagues with different specialisations look at things. The fact that we understand each other and speak the same language when working together is very valuable.”

Suvi Knaapila

Knaapila gained another new perspective on her work during a secondment period for Kesko having responsibility over employee relations at the group level. This gave her an even deeper understanding of the special questions and processes related to employment matters in a large corporation.

“At a law firm, you get to work with high-level jurisprudence. For the customer, the focus is entirely different. Besides providing legally correct and insightful advice, we need to ensure that the solutions we propose are justified from HR and business perspective as well as efficient to administer.

At Kesko, I was also working with group level cooperation with the representatives of the personnel. It was great to see how well common goals can be reached and justified decisions made in cooperation with the personnel.”

The Importance of Active Management

As Co-Head of the Employment, Benefits & Pensions practice, Knaapila herself is a supervisor. However, she views this position as a coaching role. People often think that experts "manage themselves", but Knaapila believes in the power of active management and motivation.

“I want to be active in supporting my junior colleagues and being available to them, in terms of legal issues, wellbeing at work and professional development. I believe that active management has its place in this field. The question is not of interfering with the responsibilities and freedoms of the attorneys' independent roles, but rather of providing ‘supervisory services’.”

Knaapila has also continued to study alongside her work: she is just a thesis away from completing her master’s degree in corporate governance from Hanken School of Economics. Questions of governance are above all topical. They are also closely linked to Knaapila’s current tasks. In addition, she is on the board of the Helsinki Bar Association (Helsingin Asianajayhdistys) and a member of the Delegation of the Finnish Bar Association. For her active role in Helsinki Bar Association, she was awarded the title of Lawyer of the Year 2014.

“The legal profession has its own code and ethics, a sense of solidarity and respect for colleagues. The professional community is important—I am happy and proud that I get to be a part of it.”

FEATURED D&I ALUMNA

Catching Up with D&I Alumna Hannele von Hertzen of SRV

Before joining SRV as Senior Legal Counsel in 2015, Hannele has worked in-house at Fennovoima and as the responsible lawyer for nuclear energy issues in the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. She started her legal career at Dittmar & Indrenius in 1993 after being trained at the bench at the Raasepori District Court and having worked for a smaller law firm in Helsinki before that. She graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1990.

What Are the Most Challenging and Rewarding Things About Working at SRV?

SRV is a highly innovative company that provides end-to-end solutions for the development, construction and commercialisation of projects.

"Our projects offer challenging environment also for us lawyers who transfer the new ideas into agreements with various parties."

Thanks to the innovative and creative approach our projects offer challenging environment also for us lawyers who transfer the new ideas into agreements with various parties.

As a creative person I really appreciate this way of working although practical legal solutions are not always easy to find in our megaprojects such as “Redi” in Kalasatama, Kehä I Keilaniemi towers, Tampere Areena which is going to be built above the railway or the “Bunker” and “Wood City” in Jätkäsaari.

SRV spirit is also something that we are very proud of. Our firm has been awarded excellent AA+ rating (rank 11) based on the results of Corporate Spirit Ltd’s PeoplePower® personnel survey, which makes us one of Finland’s most inspiring workplaces in 2016. You can really feel the good team spirit every morning when entering the office.

What Legal Issues or Challenges Have You Got Coming Up On the Horizon Over the Next Few Months?

As we are a listed company, one obvious topic is the Market Abuse Regulation that enters into force on July 3. That brings along a lot of work to be completed within the coming months.

In a Client-Role, What Do You Value Most in Terms of Law Firms' Customer Experience?

One attorney once said to me that in-house lawyers, who have attorney backgrounds themselves, are definitely the most demanding clients. There might be some truth to it.

"The attorney needs to understand the market where the client is operating for being able to provide solutions that are feasible within tight time schedules."

Hannele von Hertzen

Market understanding is the key requirement. The attorney needs to understand the market where the client is operating for being able to provide solutions that are feasible within tight time schedules. He/she needs to understand the needs of the client in terms of quality, money and time schedule. Most in-house lawyers are busy and do not have the time to read long memos of general nature with even longer disclaimers. Instead, they value solution oriented approaches.

Furthermore, good customer experience is always based on trust between two persons, not between firms. Therefore as a client you hope that appointing an experienced attorney to assist you would mean that he/she would be the one to do the actual work. In real world, however, this is not often the case.

If You Would Have to Move Abroad, In Which City Would You Most Preferably Live and Why?

Everybody who knows me well knows that my ultimate favourite country is Italy. At the latest after retirement I would like to live in a small picturesque Italian village, preferably in Liguria where the climate is mild also during the winter time, Liguria being the second warmest region in the whole Italy after Sicily.

A more professional option would be Munich. Having lived in Germany for three years in the past and speaking German I could easily imagine myself working for a German or multi-national enterprise based in the capital city of Bavaria. Munich is ranked as Germany’s most attractive city with the best quality of life (“Lebensqualität” as the Germans say), close to the Alpes and many other nice places, like Italy.

THINKING GREEN

How Do You Measure a Year?

In daylight, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In seven thousand nine hundred seventyfive printed A4 papers less in 2015 than what we consumed the year before. How do we measure a year? In change.

Change can be expected since we are now a WWF Green Office. Green office is a practical environmental management system for offices developed by WWF Finland. The power of Green Office is built by tangible targets and involving people in changing their consumer habits. In addition to committing to reduced paper consumption per employee at D&I, our green goals culminate in lower energy consumption, recycling, waste sorting and sustainability in office equipment.

Our road to operating as a Green Office has been a thought-provoking team-effort, including themed awareness-increasing luncheons and workshops with immemorable internal debates, facilitated by WWF Finland's representatives, on food and food-related choices we make on a daily basis. Our whole team from millennials to partners has shown amazing commitment to the cause through actively competing against each other in turning off computers and the lights and in sorting out their banana peels. We also have a "D&I Goes Green" Team that is in charge of ensuring constant development and reporting of our chosen key indicators to WWF to see how we’re progressing, where we need to readjust and also, to show through performance that we're actually doing what we said we would do.

But why are we doing what we say we would do? To join the choir of companies treating climate change as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) issue? Absolutely.

We have been forerunners in Finland in making ethics and CSR inescapable considerations in all our advisory work. We are very proud of our respected Corporate Advisory, Compliance & CSR practice, headed by the renowned CSR expert Partner Kari Lautjärvi, currently putting his final touches on his new CSR-related book "Corporate Benefit in Decision Making and Actions of the Company's Management" ("Yhtiön etu yhtiön johdon päätöksissä ja toimissa", Talentum Pro 2017), and by Partner Raija-Leena Ojanen, our own compliance and yoga guru, who also serves on the board of WWF Finland as part of our pro bono support for the work of WWF Finland in general.

CSR is not, however, the full story.

In tandem with creating social good on a global scale, being a Green Office is in fact a matter of strategical thinking and mission. Our mission is to make our clients succeed, not only in today's economy but in decades to come. To accomplish that mission we need to act on all fronts, including participating in slowing down global warming through reducing our ecological footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. There's no denying that our daily choices have a tangible impact both on our own and our clients' future. Hence our slogan Thinking Ahead. Hence our strong emphasis on ethics, CSR and legal advice that withstands the test of time. Hence Green Office.

When you think about the words "sustainable" and "success", it does make perfect sense that green is the new black. In March 2016 JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s biggest banks, announced it will stop direct financing of all new coal mines and new coal power plants in rich countries in the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015. It has been predicted that the Paris Climate Agreement has fundamentally altered the way businesses think about the financial risks of climate change, and that those who choose to stand still with a short-term utilitarian economic logic will not prevail. Put in another way: no matter how much environmental awareness increases, it's the actions that count.

Espa

Besides paper, I count trees. When I look out of my office window, right across the Esplanadi park in Helsinki, I can see 31 trees of green beneath skies of blue. Looking at all the happy people having picnic lunches on their colourful blankets under those hundred-year-old Tilia trees, it's almost impossible to resist the temptation of singing "What a Wonderful World" aloud, a never-fail classic from my "Thinking Green and Slow" Spotify-list that I have recently created for D&I's own Spotify account (dittmarindrenius). You are welcome to listen to mine but I challenge you to create you own with the same theme.


I wish you an inspiring summer. See you in the fall, at our Green Office.

Katja Hollmén

Director of Customer Relations

D&I advised the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the second biggest shareholder of Ekokem Corporation, a leading Nordic circular economy company, in connection with Fortum's acquisition of Ekokem. The deal values Ekokem at approximately EUR 700 million on a debt and cash free basis.

D&I advised AMP Capital, a leading global infrastructure manager, and Infracapital, a leading European infrastructure investor, in their acquisition and related financing of Adven Group, a provider of critical energy infrastructure and services in Finland, Estonia and Sweden.

D&I advised MB Funds, the Finnish private equity firm, in its announced acquisition of Kotkamills, a Finnish forest industry company specializing in laminating base papers, impregnated products, magazine papers and sawmill products, from OpenGate Capital.

D&I advised the European Investment Bank in connection with its EUR 175 million loan facility for the construction of a new EUR 400 million combined heat and power plant in Kilpilahti by a joint venture between Neste, Borealis and Veolia.