Monitoring of Foreign Corporate Acquisition
The Act on the Monitoring of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions in Finland entered into force on 1 June 2012. The Act makes the monitoring and confirmation of corporate acquisitions made by foreign citizens easier. It repeals the current Act from the year 1992.
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is the authority responsible for handling official matters as concerns the monitoring and confirmation of corporate acquisitions. If a corporate acquisition is potentially in conflict with vital national interests, the Finnish Government will confirm whether or not it can go ahead.
A positive attitude to foreign ownership lies behind the Act on the Monitoring of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions in Finland. However, it gives Finnish public authorities the opportunity to exercise greater control over the ownership of companies considered key in terms of national emergency supply and national security. If necessary, they must also be able to restrict foreign ownership of such companies.
Only corporate acquisitions in the defence and dual-use goods sector are subject, without exception, to advance confirmation by the public authorities. Such confirmation is based on an application. In the civil sector, monitoring is targeted at Finnish enterprises considered critical to securing vital functions within society. Within the civil sector, corporate acquisitions are subject to declaration.
Regarding the defence materiel industry, monitoring covers all foreign owners. In other respects, monitoring only applies to foreign owners domiciled outside the EU and EFTA states.
Corporate
acquisition refers to a situation, in the case of a limited liability company,
in which a foreign owner gains control of a minimum of 10 per cent of the total
number of votes accompanying company shares. Alternatively, such ownership may
involve corresponding, dominant control over the company in question, or over
another monitored entity.
Diagram of corporate acquisitions in the defence sector (pdf) (169.1 KB)
Diagram of other corporate acquisitions (pdf) (166.7 KB)
