Reflections on 2003

Originally published in IFLR M&A Yearbook 2004

According to the Finnish business weekly Talouselämä, the number of transactions characterised as being Finnish (either a Finnish target or a Finnish party as the seller or the purchaser), amounted to a total of 639 in 2003, a slight increase compared to approximately 625 - 630 transactions in 2002. However, the total value of the deals decreased with approximately 15% from €21 billion in 2002 to € 17.8 billion in 2003. Notably, the year however involved some larger transactions and a number of transactions targeted Finnish listed companies through public tenders.

The Finnish Competition Authority (FCA), that is responsible for clearing merger transactions which reach certain turnover thresholds determined by Finnish law, made a total of 93 merger decisions in 2003, 90 of which were accepted at the first phase of the clearance procedure. With the said 93 transactions in 2003, compared to the 114 transactions processed in 2002, down by