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

Borenius Attorneys-at-law is best known in the market for it strong private equity (PE) clientele, corporate team and fund formation team led by Paulus Hidén.

In June 2011 it rebranded from Borenius & Kemppinen to Borenius Attorneys-at-law across all its offices in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The firm's presence in the capital markets is partly reliant on the activity of PE houses, of which there was little through 2010-11, and on equity and regulatory work. Ari-Pekka Saanio is the best known capital markets figure in the firm, while senior associate Antti Hemmilä also leads on some deals.

In recent deals, the firm advised PCK Group and Amanda Capital on their respective share issues. The former was for €20 million shares, roughly 10% of the entire share capital, targeted at domestic institutions with Pohjola Bank as arranger. The latter was a €14.5 million share issue as part of a capital raising exercise to finance an acquisition.

Borenius grew by two associates from 2010-11 and has been one of the main beneficiaries of Roschier's and Hannes' launches in Stockholm according to commentators, receiving referrals from Swedish firms who used to refer to the top two players.

The firm's leading partner is Andrei Aganimov, while Jari Vikiö, Ari Kaarakainen and Berndt Pettersson appear regularly on banking deals. It has a good reputation among fund managers and private equity houses and has of late acted on some large real estate financings for banks.

According to a peer: "Aganimov was at Nordea Bank from 1993 and is very good, pragmatic, knows what banks expect in terms of details and doesn't negotiate matters that are irrelevant." Another peer also rates Aganimov and says the team as a whole produces "very good quality".

The firm advised Nordea on a secured multicurrency revolving facility for Talvivaara Mining Company and on a term loan, credit and acquisition financing for Terveystalo Healthcare.

It acted alongside Clifford Chance for the coordinating committee representing the lenders on a large refinancing and restructuring process for Myllykoski, which ended in the acquisition of Myllykoski and Rhein Papier by UPM Kymmene. The firm was also engaged by Merchant Banking and Skandinaviska Enskilda Bank on a revolving facility to Cargotec Corporation.

On the borrower side, the firm advised Eltel Group and its owner 3i Group on a refinancing and mezzanine facility from BNP Paribas and private equity house CapMan on acquisition financing for is purchase of Pohjolan Design-Talo (plus subsidiaries) from Rautaruukki.

Borenius is best known for its expertise in private equity (PE) and fund related work. Among its PE clients the firm counts CapMan, Paroc, Langholm Capital, Pamplona Capital Management and OpenGate Capital. As the PE market picks up, Borenius' presence will also.

The firm also has an active practice advising national clients and has been trying to increase its share of private M&A and cross-border mandates. Ari Kaarakainen heads the M&A and PE practice. His management role takes him off the front line a bit where partners Jyrki Tähtinen, Jari Vikiö and Ari-Pekka Saanio are seen leading on deals.

In recent work, the firm represented CapMan and the minority shareholders of OneMed on the sale of OneMed (a medical supplies company) to the LSE listed PE group 3i. The firm also advised CapMan alongside Langholm funds and the minority shareholders of cosmetics and beauty products company Lumene on the latter's restructuring, ownership overhaul and financing.

In another transaction, Saanio led a team to act for OpenGate Capital on its acquisition of paper and wood-based product manufacturer Kotka Mills from StoraEnso for €24 million. In a final deal, Vikiö advised Farmos, owned by CapMan and Langolm, in the sale of their shares to KiiltoClean.

At the time of writing the firm was representing Fortcom energy in sale of shares to Fingrid for several €100 million.