Castrén & Snellman is among the oldest Finnish law firms with roots going back to 1888. It is a full-service law firm, based in Helsinki, and it boasts the largest number of employees out of all the Finnish law firms.
Focusses / specialisms
In terms of banking and finance activity, the firm specialises in areas such as corporate lending, leveraged finance and real estate finance, as well as general project finance.
Their capital markets practice is well versed in both traditional financial instruments as well as more innovative ones such hybrid and convertible bonds.
Castrén & Snellman’s M&A practice provides sound advice on strategic acquisitions, public takeovers as well as joint ventures.
In terms of project development, the firm focuses on real estate investments and property development.
Key clients
Nordea Bank, Caverion Corporation, OP Corporate Bank,
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Danske Bank, Aktia Bank, Neste Corporation, LocalTapiola Group, BASF Battery Materials Finland, OX2 Finland, Vattenfall, Swedbank AB,
Ålandsbanken, Borgo, Huhtamäki, Helen, NREP, Finnlines, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, VR-Group.
Research period review: 33rd edition (2023/2024)
Recently, Castrén & Snellman’s banking and finance division has seen a lot of work in the consumer goods and services sector, the technology and telecommunications sector, as well as the financial services and investment management sectors. Within those sectors the firm has done a lot of real estate and acquisition finance as well as some refinancings.
In terms of capital markets work, the firm focused on the financial services sector, industrials and manufacturing, and the technology and telecommunications sector. The main types of deals the firm have been seeing are bond issues and public acquisitions.
The firm was engaged in private acquisitions, mergers and divestments. The main sectors of activity in terms of M&A were industrials and manufacturing as well as investment management. The firm also did some interesting M&A work in the gaming industry.
In the field of project development, the firm was active in the industrials and manufacturing sector, as well as the energy sector.
Deal highlights: 33rd edition (2023/2024)
Commerzbank Finance’s financing facility of more than
€1 billion
The Mortgage Society of Finland’s update of their
€2 billion bond programme
S-Bank's update of their €1.500 million note issuance programme
Senior Preferred Note, Covered Bond, Tier 2 Note and AT1 Capital Note programmes
Oomi’s solar park project
Client feedback: 33rd edition (2023/2024)
Banking and finance
"Relationship-driven. Highly skilled. Pragmatic."
"Street-smart, quick, service-minded."
Project development
"They provide solid and professional expertise."
"Castren provided in-depth knowledge about the Finnish permitting landscape (which contains very many different permits) and provided appropriate, reliable and useful answers to the various questions we had around permitting. Castren were also very swift in preparing drafts and displayed good availability and it was easy to schedule meetings at short notice."
Teresa Kauppila
"Not giving up even when the situations are very difficult. Street-smart, very positive."
Janne Lauha
"Understanding the big picture. Always having the client's best interests in mind."
Sakari Lukinmaa
"Solution-orientated, very good use of appropriate resources."
Sanna-Mari Seppälä
"She's very precise and measured, hands-on, expert in her area of expertise."
"Sanna was very ambitious and worked very hard on the agreements for which she was responsible (which was a majority of the agreements in the transaction). She had a very good knowledge and understanding of the complex key agreements and could come up with appropriate solutions and counterarguments as regards the counterparty's mark-ups."
