News/2 Mar 2017

Borenius’ M&A Practice: a Look into 2017

Borenius’ M&A practice has had a strong start to 2017 following a very active 2016. We are still in the first quarter, but with four deals signed in January, we anticipate another interesting year ahead.

Although there is no clear market trend, there are some factors to consider for the upcoming deal season:

  • Large auctions vs. restricted processes. The past 12–24 months have demonstrated that the popularity of large-scale auctions has decreased, and they have become more of an exception than a norm. Instead, one-to-one processes or very limited auctions seem to be the zeitgeist.
  • Dual-track processes. The IPO window has remained wide open, and thereby dual-track processes are considered in almost every exit. However, the market seems to favour consecutive tracks where one track follows the other track, or they overlap only somewhat, instead of running both tracks simultaneously.
  • The China factor. China has emerged as an M&A powerhouse of its own, and the past 12–24 months have shown a surge in China outbound M&A both globally and also in Finland. However, at the end of last year, China’s forex regulator has tightened the capital outflow, which has delayed or even stopped some transactions. We are monitoring the development of the situation closely.
  • Regulatory hurdles. A backlash to globalization is the emergence of protectionism. It influences politicians, which in turn puts pressure on the authorities who apply the rules and regulations affecting cross-border transactions. It will also be interesting to see whether the new administration in the United States will be applying the CFIUS rules more aggressively, which may increase for example China’s interest in European deals even more.

2016 in review

Taking a look back, we are happy to see that our M&A team did well among those of our colleague firms in the Finnish M&A market. Our team was number one measured by the number of deals based on Mergermarket’s league table for the last twelve months (LTM end of January 2017).

Other highlights for Borenius M&A team include:

  • Chambers and Partners 2016 “Finnish Law Firm of the Year” award;
  • The only Finnish firm to receive Tier 1 rankings in all four practice areas in the IFLR1000 research published in 2016 for Finland (including M&A);
  • 22 deals announced in Mergermarket 2016;
  • Great team having a great time together, and that is what going to work should be all about;
  • In 2016 we advised e.g.
    • PKC Group in Motherson Sumi’s EUR 571 million recommended offer
    • CapMan Plc in connection with the successful EUR 118 million tender offer of Norvestia Plc
    • Madison Dearborn Partners in connection with the successful EUR 315 million tender offer of Powerflute Oyj
    • Intera Partners in its acquisition of ISS’s security business
    • Valio Ltd in its sale of the starter culture ingredients business to Chr. Hansen A/S
    • CapMan in the sale of Esperi Care Group Oy.
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Johannes Piha

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Helsinki