Borenius is home to a robust real estate and construction team, covering the full array of matters, including transactions, disputes, contract and advisory work. The team also handles restructurings of distressed real estate assets, leveraging the firm’s cross-sector capabilities to assist companies facing operational challenges. It services clients that operate predominantly in mining, finance, energy and property development. The firm’s notable recent work includes advising the seller on the largest real estate transaction of the year and overseeing the acquisition of a historic building from the city authority, in a deal that required meeting strict regulatory conditions. The team is led by seven notable real estate and construction practitioners: Christian Fogelholm, Casper Herler, Ari Kaarakainen, Leif Laitinen, Hanna Lehtinen, Heidi Malmberg, and Emma Niemistö.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Accolades
Client satisfaction: NPS ®
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Based on his international experience, Leif Laitinen can match a top London law firm partner in any negotiation. His firm, productive style combined with commercial understanding yields great results. Leif leads his team with a positive mindset and by his own example and treats everybody equally well.'
- ‘We have collaborated with Borenius for various years and, as is somewhat usual with major law firms, their key strength is their full-service-house concept, which makes them able to provide clients with legal expertise from all necessary fields.’
- 'Emma Niemistö is the best construction law specialised lawyer one can get, regardless of whether the matter is related to construction project negotiations or disputes. Very pragmatic, strong in negotiations and does not have a need to be "right", but is able to be constructive or aggressive depending on the situation and interests of her clients.'
- ‘Emma Niemistö and Kiira Björkroth are exceptional lawyers that understand the actual needs of the business/industry.’
- ‘We worked with partners Ari Kaarakainen and Emma Niemistö with whom the process was efficient and excellent as expected. However, the quality and capability of associates / senior associates was very exceptionally high.'
- ‘Borenius real estate and construction practice, led by Leif Laitinen is an agile team that always meets the set targets and timelines. While highly professional, they face their clients with a driven smile.’
Key clients
- Abrdn Investments Limited Agnico Eagle Mines Anglo American Areim AB B Capital BASF Cerberus Capital Management Citycon Encavis Gasgrid Finland Governia Ilmarinen Kruunuasunnot Mawson Gold Metso Corporation Neoen Nordea Life Nordkalk OX2 Outokumpu Partners Group Renewable Power Capital S-Bank Sibanye-Stillwater's Keliber lithium project Technopolis Yara XTX Markets Ltd Fortum Fu-Gen Cobbleyard Real Estate WasaGroup Conficap Tristan Capital Partners Catella Management Oy Altaal Avant Capital Partners United Bankers/UB Corum Origin SCPI Suohki (Suomen Hyvinvointikiinteistöt) Logistea AB (Publ)
Work highlights
Advised Kojamo on the EUR 242 million sale of 1,944 rental apartments (44 assets in eight cities across Finland) to global investment firm Apollo and Avant Capital Partners.
Advised Suohki (Suomen Hyvinvointikiinteistöt) on its EUR 82 million acquisition of the Cleantech Garden development project.
Advised XTX Markets on the development of an over EUR 1 bn data centre investment into Kajaani, Finland.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Christian Fogelholm; Casper Herler; Ari Kaarakainen; Leif Laitinen; Hanna Lehtinen; Heidi Malmberg; Emma Niemistö