Krogerus advises Fellow Finance in its transformation into Fellow Bank

Krogerus advised Fellow Finance, a loan-based crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platform listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market, in its transformation into Fellow Bank, a fully licensed deposit-taking credit institution listed on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki.

Fellow Bank is a new Finnish bank that helps both personal and business customers to manage their day-to-day finances in a flexible and straightforward manner. For savers, Fellow Bank offers an attractive interest rate on deposits.

In this transformative transaction, Fellow Finance and Evli Bank completed a series of steps, in which Evli Bank spun off its asset management business by way of a demerger and independent listing of the asset management business, Fellow Bank was formed by way of a merger of Fellow Finance into the remaining Evli Bank, and certain investors subscribed for new shares in Fellow Bank to provide it with CET1 capital and growth funding. The completion of the transaction was subject to certain regulatory and authority approvals, including among others European Central Bank approval of the holdings of Fellow Bank's major shareholders.

The Krogerus team was led by Partner Paul Raade and he was primarily assisted by Associates Kalle Lipsanen, Tiina Jääskeläinen and Olli Silvennoinen. Managing Partner Mårten Knuts, Partner Marko Vuori and Senior Associate Joel Kanervo supported the advice on structuring, corporate and financial regulatory matters. Partner Samu Lassila led the advice on tax matters, Partner Kalle Hynönen led on intellectual property rights, Partner Carola Möller led on employment law and Partner Leena Lindberg led on competition law.

Since the transaction, Fellow Bank has rebranded itself as Alisa Bank.