IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

"Borenius & Kemppinen acted as legal advisor for us in a number of transactions," says one client. "It was definitely a positive experience. I think Riku Paanila is very good."

Borenius & Kemppinen manages its capital markets work as part of the transactions practice group headed by Ari Kaarakainen. Deteriorating market conditions caused many of Borenius' ongoing deals and transactions to fail before the deals were made public, but one highlight this year was advising Mobile Credit Nordic on its Aim listing. The Helsinki Exchange-listed Stromsdal also mandated the firm on its secondary share issuance.

"Borenius is a very reasonable firm," says one client. "They use common sense, are business-wise and keep the fees appropriate. Their technical knowledge is very good."

Borenius & Kemppinen, whose banking section is headed by Nina Wilkman, suffered a decrease in deal flow this year, but is still seen by the market as a strong M&A firm.

Wilkman is praised by clients for her work. "She is very professional, effective and business-minded," says a client. "We have worked with all the major firms and she is generally always a good experience."

Nina Wilkman acted for Biotie on its merger with Elbion, which involved a share issue by Biotie to Elbion shareholders, and the transfer of the entire share capital of Elbion to Biotie as payment.

Wilkman and her team were also lead counsel to Alberto-Culver when it sold Cederroth International to Capman for an undisclosed amount. "Nina Wilkman is very pragmatic," says another client. "She always has a good overview of what has happened and what still needs to be done."

Riku Paanila, Ari-Pekka Saanio and Jari Leppänen are advising Mitsubishi on a €55 million voluntary public tender offer to acquire all the shares in Rocla in December 2008. Jari Vikiö and Jukka Airaksinen were the Finnish advisors to Kendrion on the €94 million sale of its distribution services operations to the British company Edmundson Distribution and Belgian company Claessen.

Jyrki Tähtinen and Asko Lindqvist were counsel to Onemed when it acquired Simonsen Material for an undisclosed amount. The firm was also lead counsel to Aldata Solution when it acquired the assets of IRI Apollo's retail space and assortment planning unit for a modest $10.5 million in December 2008.