The private equity and venture capital (below jointly "PE") markets were in an upswing in the whole Fenno-Baltic area during the year 2004.

The Commission has cleared, subject to conditions, the proposed acquisition of certain parts of GBI, of the Netherlands, by Associated British Foods ("ABF"), of the UK.

The Commission has cleared, subject to conditions, the proposed acquisition of Enodis, of the UK, by Manitowoc, of the US. Manitowoc is active in various sectors including the manufacture of lifting equipment in the shipbuilding industry and the production of cold-focused equipment in the foodservice sector.

The working group appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Finance to prepare the implementation of the directive of the European Parliament and the Council on takeover bids (the "Directive") into Finnish law (the "Working Group") published its report on 10 May 2005.

A relatively new trend in Finnish city planning is the creation of so-called 3D-real estates, i.e. significant underground constructions and constructions built in the air.

The Commission carried out an unannounced inspection at the premises of Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. ("Telekomunikacja Polska"), the incumbent telecom operator in Poland, on 23 September 2008.

The Finnish Supreme Court has rendered a decision (KKO:2008:88 17 September 2008) concerning employer's liability for termination of employment in connection with a transfer of undertaking.

The Finnish Supreme Court has redefined an employer's right to rescind an employment contract, i.e. to terminate without notice, due to an employee's absence from work in its recent decision (KKO:2008:50, 19 May 2008).

The Commission has invited interested parties to submit comments on the commitments offered by RWE to address the Commission's concerns regarding its alleged abuse of dominant position on the German gas transmission market.

The Finnish Ministry of Finance has started preparations for a reform of the Finnish Securities Market Act (the "SMA").

In a preliminary ruling the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") held that a company in a dominant position on the relevant market for medicinal products is abusing its dominant position if it refuses to meet ordinary orders of wholesalers in order to stop parallel exports.

The President of Finland has on 13 January 2006 ratified the Act amending the Medicines Act</P> <P>(395/1987), thus completing the pharmaceuticals legislation reform.

Many jurisdictions, including Finland, recognise the taking of security not only over individual assets but also over the business assets (as a class of assets) of a security provider. In Finland, the latter form of security is called ‘yrityskiinnitys’, in English ‘business mortgage’ or ‘enterprise mortgage’ (the term business mortgage is used in this article).

The Finnish Government has recently published its updated policy on the availability of a high-quality broadband networks in Finland.

The European Commission proposes to extend the term of copyright protection for performing artists and record producers from 50 to 95 years.

The revised Finnish Corporate Governance Code (the "Code") for Finnish listed companies was issued on 20 October 2008 replacing the Corporate Governance Recommendation from 2003.