Finnish mergers and acquisitions market is fairly upbeat

While the initial expectations for merger and acquisition deal volumes in the first quarter of 2012 were low, there have been a number of substantial transactions in Finland, reports Partner Mika Ståhlberg, head of the firm’s M&A practice, in an article published in The Lawyer

The Nordic financial market has remained relatively resilient in the years following the 2008 economic malaise, helped along by the relative good health of the Nordic banks and their willingness to provide financing to creditworthy clients.

But lending criteria has gotten much stricter. Gone are the days of covenant light terms that we experienced in the years before the crisis. Additionally, arrangement fees and margins have increased substantially across all of northern Europe. Even despite the low expectations, transactions have taken place.

Looking ahead, there are some very interesting mid-market transactions in the making, along with large deals in the billion euro range. If these and other significant deals are consummated, this could help brighten expectations in the M&A market for the remainder of the year.

So while the prevailing bias is towards negative sentiment, it looks like there is room for some optimism in the near future.

You can read Mika’s full text online by visiting the briefings section of www.thelawyer.com as follows (registration is free of charge– scroll down until you see the Krogerus article).