Stonesoft is a leading innovator in next-generation network firewall products.

McAfee has announced a definitive agreement to initiate a conditional tender offer for the acquisition of the Finnish company Stonesoft Oyj for an aggregate equity value of approximately USD 389 million in cash. Stonesoft is a leading innovator in next-generation network firewall products.

Based in Helsinki, Finland, Stonesoft is trusted by more than 6,500 customers across the globe. Gartner positioned the company as “visionary” in the 2013 Network Security Firewall Magic Quadrant. “With the pending addition of Stonesoft’s products and services, McAfee is making a significant investment in next-generation firewall technology. These solutions anticipate emerging customer needs in a continually evolving threat landscape,” said Michael DeCesare, McAfee President.

Fastest growing market segment

According to McAfee, next-generation firewalls solve critical customer needs and represent one of the fastest growing market segments in network security.

Stonesoft’s product portfolio of firewalls, evasion prevention systems, and SSL VPN solutions addresses businesses of all sizes. Through the pending acquisition of Stonesoft, McAfee expects to extend its leadership position in network security.

“We plan to integrate Stonesoft’s offerings with other McAfee products to realize the power of McAfee’s Security Connected strategy. Stonesoft products will benefit from the collective expertise of more than 7,200 McAfee employees,” says DeCesare. “Leveraging McAfee’s cloud-based Global Threat Intelligence service will provide our combined customers with unparalleled security.”

Source - McAfee is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation.

Franchise deal with Finnish company Restel will create a nationwide network of Burger King restaurants.

Burger King, the world’s second largest fast food chain, is entering the Finnish market through a master franchise agreement with the Finnish hotel and restaurant chain Restel. Restel is planning to establish a nationwide network of Burger King restaurants in busy stations, shopping centres, event arenas and other good business locations. The first restaurant will open in Helsinki at the end of this year.

“We believe in the appeal of the Burger King brand. We are bringing a new alternative to the Finnish market which will also serve tourists in addition to the domestic consumers,” says Leena Turunen, Vice President of Restel’s Restaurant Division. “There is enough demand in the Finnish fast food market, which is the fastest growing market segment in the sector.”

Mutual benefits

According to Restel, Burger King’s menu in Finland will be similar to its other restaurants but the companies are also looking at possibilities to utilise local produce. “We will offer a wide range of alternatives at a reasonable price,” says Turunen.

Restel operates 49 hotels and 240 restaurants in Finland. “The agreement with Burger King will bring Restel international restaurant and concept know-how. We believe that Burger King will be a major part of our restaurant business in the future,” says Turunen. Restel is currently recruiting a chain manager and employees for Burger King.

Founded in 1954, Burger King has more than 13,000 branches across 88 countries.

Source: Restel

New company will be responsible for 41 Saab Authorized Repairers in Finland.

State-owned Swedish company Saab Automobile Parts AB has established a subsidiary in Finland. The new company is called Swedish Distribution Services Finland Ab and the country director is Sauli Naski. The company will be responsible for 41 Saab Authorized Repairers.

“Through these establishments we want to first and foremost, together with our network of authorized workshops, ensure that the Saab owners in Finland have good access to Saab Genuine spare parts and professional aftersales service,” says Lennart Stahl, CEO of Saab Automobile Parts AB.

Base for diversifying the business

According to Stahl, by establishing subsidiaries Saab Automobile Parts is creating the structural conditions to develop and diversify its business with new business ideas and concepts. “The Scandinavian market, where Saab naturally has had a strong presence and where the network of Saab Authorized Repairers remains strong, will play an important role,” he says.

Saab Automobile Parts has been owned by the Swedish state since December 2012.

Sources: Saab Automobile Parts AB

New program consists of about 10 funds that will invest in about 100 startup and growth companies.

Finland is turning to venture capital financing as a way to kick-start its economy out of a recession without jeopardizing its AAA rating, according to an article published by Bloomberg on 5 April. Finland is currently the only euro member to enjoy a stable AAA rating at Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

The goal of the new venture capital program is to attract investment worth EUR 1 billion into startup and growth companies without adding to the country’s budget deficit. According to Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the program consists of about 10 funds that will invest in about 100 companies, helping to create about 6,000 jobs over five years.

Most profits go to investors

According to Bloomberg’s article, investors who buy into the venture will take the lion’s share of potential profits. Losses and about 4 percent to 6 percent of the profit will be split equally by the state and private equity in the startup funds. Additional profits will go to private investors.

The state will reallocate 20 million euros each year of existing funds through Tekes, the financing agency for technology and innovation, into startup funds. About 30 million euros will be channeled annually through Suomen Teollisuussijoitus Oy into funds that help companies in a more advanced stage.

Investors will benefit as the government’s involvement will boost the funds’ size and potential profits for funding growth companies, according to Petri Peltonen, head of the enterprise and innovation department at the ministry. “Private capital will drive the actual funding choices to allow their business hunch to pick the target companies that gain financing,” he said.

Source – Bloomberg

Nu är arbetslösheten i Finland 9 procent och antalet arbetsplatser fortsätter att minska inom näringslivet och offentliga sektorn.

Även ungdomsarbetslösheten är hög, för 15-24 åringar är var fjärde ung arbetslös.

Mer information finns hos - Statistkcentralen

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has been impressed by Finland’s education system, good workforce, stability, infrastructure, and quality of life.

The government of Finland is committed to increasing the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. Last year the government introduced a fast track process for major investments as part of its FDI promotion policy. This year it has announced a cut in corporation tax from 24% to 20%, which will come into effect from the beginning of 2014.

The tax cut is a very positive signal that makes Finland more competitive especially at the European level as an investment destination for international companies, according to Petri Peltonen Director General of the Department of Enterprise and Innovation at the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The government’s target is that the FDI coming to Finland will be higher than the EU average by the year 2020.

Bayer values Finland

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals relocated its Northern Europe office from Denmark to Finland in 2011 and has been very satisfied with the move. According to Bayer’s managing director Oliver Rittger, Finland’s strengths are an education system that produces a good workforce, the country’s stability and good infrastructure, and a high quality of life. These are some of the reasons why Bayer is continuing its investments in Finland.

Finland’s president, prime minister and minister of economic affairs all share the view that foreign investment is an important driver for the growth of the economy, according to Tuomo Airaksinen, CEO of Invest in Finland. Despite the economic uncertainty in Europe, which has made many companies cautious in their investments, Airaksinen believes that this year is already looking better for Finland. “When some good news comes from Europe, the investment backlog will start to be released,” he says.

Finland’s fast track for major investors is already in use and the first news about new investments will be made when the companies involved decide to make their announcements, according to Airaksinen.

Source – Invest in Finland

Finska försvarsmaterialtillverkaren Patria utreds av polis för mutbrott.

I måndags publicerade sajten Wikileaks diplomatdokument där det framgår att Patria betalat 2,8 miljoner euro till Sloveniens premiärminister Janez Jansas parti i samband med pansarfordonsaffären 2006.

Sex anställda inom Patria kommer att ställas inför rätta inom kort för mutbrott.

I Sverige har vi inte Wikileaks men MigiLeaks där bland annat anställda inom Migrationsverket berättar hur Sverige göder flyktingsindustrin med tillhörande människosmuggling.

Wikileaks, även WikiLeaks, (av hawaiiska wiki för snabb, och eng. leaks för läckor) är en internationell ideell förening som offentliggör hemligstämplade och privata dokument och filmer, i samarbete med media. Materialet laddas upp av anonyma källor, så kallade whistleblowers, till organisationens webbplats och dokumentdatabas.

Organisationen säger sig vilja avslöja oetiskt beteende av regeringar och företag, och eftersträvar fri tillgång till information som är av allmänintresse.

Finska bolagsskatten sänks från 24,5 procent till 20 procent, enligt statsministern Jyrki Katainen när han presenterade budgeten i dag.

Vid årsskiftet sänktes den svenska bolagsskatten från 26,3 procent till 22 procent.

Establishing a business in Finland makes it easier for Russian companies to enter the European markets.

A Russian company that manufactures wind turbines is starting operations in Mikkeli, eastern Finland, according to Ville Paasanen who is a board member of the company and also the technology officer of the the Miktech innovation and technology center. The company is planning to focus on product development over the next year before entering the Finnish, European and North American markets.

According to Paasonen, locating a business in Finland makes it easier for Russian companies to enter the European market. Productivity is better in Finland than in Russia and the market value of products manufactured in Finland is also higher. The Russian wind turbine manufacturer will be using subcontractors in the Mikkeli region as much as possible.

Better productivity, higher value

“The cost of labour is higher in Finland but productivity is better. Also products with the label Made in Finland attract a better price even on the Russian markets than those with Made in Russia,” says Paasonen.

Finland also offers better logistics. “From Finland you can get to Germany in a day whereas in Russia it can take a week to get to Moscow,” says Paasonen.

Miktech provides business development services for technology companies and coordinates diverse projects mainly in its four focus areas: technology and wood product industry, digitization, bioenergy and environmental safety.

Source - Miktech

The shallow waters and high wind speeds on Finland’s coastline are ideal for wind power generation.

Finland has by far the greatest potential for the development of offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea region, according to a study by Baltic Sea Region Energy Co-operation (BASREC). From the 99 most favourable areas for offshore wind power generation identified by the report, 66 are located in Finland.

The study ranks possible offshore wind farm locations according to wind speed, water depth and distance to the shore. According to the study, Finland’s “golden areas” benefit from shallow waters and high wind speeds.

North Finland has highest capacity

North Finland on the Gulf of Bothnia coast has the highest wind power capacity in the Baltic Sea region with 31,200 MW, followed by South Finland with 27,400 MW. Central Finland has a capacity of 11,100 MW and and South-east Finland 2000 MW.

BASREC’s main objective is to promote sustainable growth, security and prosperity in the region and supports therefore the creation of competitive, efficient and well-functioning energy markets. The study has been commissioned to serve as a key input for strategic actions to promote offshore wind power in the Baltic Sea Region during the coming years. The study was carried out by GL Garrad Hassan ja Deloitte.

Source: BASREC - Photo: (c) Siemens press picture

Finland’s greatest innovation strengths are in researcher concentration, R&D intensity and tertiary efficiency.

Finland has been ranked 4th in the world in Bloomberg's Global Innovation Index, published by the American mass media corporation. Bloomberg Rankings recently examined more than 200 countries and sovereign regions to determine their innovation quotient. Innovation was measured by seven factors, including R&D intensity, productivity, high-tech density, researcher concentration, manufacturing capability, education levels and patent activity.

Finland was ranked the best in the world in terms of researcher concentration, measured by the number of R&D researchers per one million people. Finland was placed second in R&D intensity, calculated from R&D as a percentage of GDP. 

Strength in education

In tertiary efficiency Finland was ranked third best in the world. This category includes the enrollment ratio in all subjects for post-secondary students; tertiary graduation ratio of students who majored in science, engineering, manufacturing and construction; annual new graduates and total tertiary-degree holders as percentages of labor force.

Finland was ranked 11^th in high-tech density. This includes high-tech public companies, such as aerospace and defense, biotechnology, hardware, software, semiconductors, Internet software & services and renewable energy companies, as a percentage of publicly listed companies.

In the category for productivity, measured as GDP per employed person, per hour worked, Finland was ranked 14^th. Finland was also ranked 23^rd for patent activity and 31^st for manufacturing capability.

Source: Bloomberg

EU:s lantbruksstöd fördelas ojämnt, om man ser på var de organisationer som får stöd har sin hemvist.

Det finska lantbruksstödet ligger mellan 190 till 600 euro per kommuninvånare – Ta del av Svenska Yle:s sammanställning

Låginkomstgraden, dvs. andelen personer i låginkomsthushåll, har legat på omkring 13 procent i Finland sedan år 2006.

Antalet personer i låginkomsthushåll har årligen varit omkring 700 000 personer. Enligt Statistikcentralens inkomstfördelningsstatistik var låginkomstgraden 12,9 procent och antalet personer i låginkomsthushåll 688 000 år 2011

Låga inkomster definieras i förhållande till befolkningens medianinkomster. Personer som hör till hushåll vars inkomster per konsumtionsenhet ¹⁾ är mindre än 60 procent av medianinkomsten anses som låginkomsttagare. År 2011 var denna inkomstgräns omkring 13 700 euro per år i enpersonshushåll, omkring 1 140 euro per månad.

1) Konsumtionsenheterna bygger på OECD:s så kallade modifierade skala. En vuxen i ett hushåll bildar en konsumtionsenhet, övriga personer i hushållet som fyllt 14 år bildar var och en 0,5 konsumtionsenheter och 0–13-åriga barn bildar vart och ett 0,3 konsumtionsenheter. Ett hushåll med en vuxen bildar en konsumtionsenhet, medan en familj som t.ex. består av makar och ett barn under 14 år tillsammans bildar 1,8 konsumtionsenheter.

Källa – Statistikcentralen

Neste Oil is ranked fourth in Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable corporations.

Finnish companies Neste Oil, Outotec and Kesko are featured in this year's Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable corporations published by Corporate Knights, the Toronto-based media and investment research company. Neste Oil is ranked in fourth place, while Outotec is placed at number 12 and Kesko at number 50.

According to Matti Lievonen, Neste Oil’s President & CEO, the company has worked steadily on developing its sustainability over the years and has now reached its highest ever ranking on the Global 100 list. “In 2012 we significantly increased the amount of waste- and residue-based inputs we use in refining NExBTL renewable diesel and commissioned Europe's first microbial oil pilot production plant. We also made a number of major investments in areas such as safety,” says Lievonen.

Neste Oil has been a pioneer in producing lower-emission traffic fuels and is the world’s leading supplier of renewable diesel. Being an industry pioneer in terms of sustainability is also one of Neste Oil’s goals.

Doing more with less

The rankings were announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. According to Corporate Knights CEO Toby Heaps of, the world’s 100 most sustainable companies “are leading a resource productivity revolution, transforming waste into treasure and doing more with less”.

The Global 100 list is based on an expert analysis of around 4,000 listed companies across a range of industries worldwide. Of these 4,000 companies, the 350 most sustainable are selected by measuring their performance against 12 indicators. Companies are compared in terms of their energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, the amount of waste they generate in relation to the financial benefit they produce, their safety performance, remuneration, personnel turnover, equality, commitment to R&D, and the taxes they pay.

Sources: Corporate Knights

NCC has sold a retail property, Lielahti Center, in Tampere, Finland, to the Finnish pension insurance company Keva.

The sale will have an impact on earnings during the second quarter of 2014.

The transaction is being implemented on a forward funding* basis. The purchase price is yield-based and the final purchase price, which is estimated to approximately SEK 390 million, is set at project completion and will be based on operating net at the time.

The project comprises a total of 15,000 square meters, including 13,330 square meters of leasable retail and service space. The project will be completed in April 2014. The current leasing ratio is 44 percent and NCC is responsible for leasing the remaining vacant space up to completion, and three years thereafter.

“The Lielahti Center is being developed with high ambitions of creating value for the citizens of Tampere. The project has a strong emphasis on environmental issues and as one of the leading property developers in the Finnish market, we are actively driving sustainability as part of our business”, says Joachim Hallengren, President of NCC Property Development.

The Lielahti Center has been developed in cooperation with the city of Tampere. The project will improve both shopping and public services in the Lielahti area. The services consist of a library and several health and social services, such as a child welfare clinic and a service center for the elderly. The Lielahti Center will also house other service providers and specialty stores, among others H&M.

The Lielahti Center is aiming for BREEAM environmental certification at the Very Good level.

The sale will be recognized in the profit of the NCC Property Development business area.

Canadian mining company Mawson releases news of the widest zone of continuous gold mineralization found at Rompas-Rajapalot to date.

The Canadian mining company Mawson has discovered further gold mineralization at the Rajapalot project in Northern Finland, with grab samples returning up to 1,520 g/t gold and an average of 55.5 g/t. The mineralization was discovered within an area of 4 square kilometres at Rajapalot, which lies 8 kilometres east of the initial Rompas gold discovery. In addition to gold, Mawson also reports that the surface grab samples returned up to 17,300 ppm uranium, with an average of 2,246 ppm.

Mawson has also published the results rock chip sampling across a strongly altered outcrop at the Palokas prospect which averaged 13.4 g/t gold and 226 ppm uranium over 9 metres. This is the widest zone of continuous gold mineralization found at Rompas-Rajapalot to date. In total, the 80 grab samples from the Rajapalot prospect to date average 152.0 g/t gold and 3,248 ppm uranium and range from 0.001g/t to 2,817 g/t gold and 0.1 to 81,900 ppm uranium.

Impressive discovery

“The frequency of discovery at Rajapalot over such a large area is impressive given the limited outcrop, which is restricted to small topographic highs, in a generally swampy terrain,” says Mawson’s President & CEO Michael Hudson. “Grades up to 1,520 g/t gold continue to excite and the disseminated and more sulphidic style of mineralization, such as that sampled at Palokas, is of interest as it forms a potential bulk tonnage style of mineralization that is amenable to geophysical targeting undercover."

In other news, diamond drilling is ongoing 8 kilometres west of Rajapalot, at the North Rompas prospect. Drilling is targeting structures containing high grade gold, where channel sample results include 1.40 m at 2,529 g/t gold and 5.1 % uranium oxide. To date 25 holes for 2,095 metres have been completed.

Source: Mawson