Sten Olsson

Partner, Helsinki

Biography

“Sten Olsson is ‘a skilled negotiator’; ‘probably the best M&A lawyer in Finland’ according to one client", Commercial, Corporate and M&A, The Legal 500

“Clients describe him as an ‘excellent M&A lawyer with vast experience and good commercial judgement.’” Corporate/M&A, Chambers Global

“Sten Olsson reads the situation very well and is a strong negotiator.” Commercial, Corporate and M&A, The Legal 500

“Clients praise Sten Olsson for being ‘very experienced in private equity issues and good with people on both sides.’” Corporate/M&A, Chambers Global and Chambers Europe

“Clients offer strong praise: ‘He is one of the few lawyers in Finland who combines commercial, pragmatic judgement with legal knowledge,’ and ‘he is skillful and experienced – his negotiation skills are such that a solution or compromise will always be found.’” Chambers Global

Leading individual, Commercial, Corporate and M&A, The Legal 500, 2024

Overview

Sten Olsson is a partner within White & Case's EMEA Private Equity team and Global M&A practice. He is recognized as one of the leaders in mergers and acquisitions in Finland and has been involved in some of the most significant transactions in Finland and Sweden. Sten has a commercial approach and is considered a skilled strategist known for getting the deal done.

Dual-qualified as a Finnish and New York attorney, Sten practiced for several years at an international law firm's New York and London offices and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2001. Prior to that, he worked at the private equity department of a Nordic-headquartered law firm in Stockholm. Sten has also worked with financial and legal matters at the European Investment Fund’s venture capital and buyout division in Luxembourg. Sten serves on boards of various companies and non-profit organizations.

Bars and Courts
Finnish Bar Association
Education
LLM
New York University
Master of Laws
University of Helsinki
Languages
English
Finnish
Swedish

Experience

Representative transactions include:

  • Representation of Hartwall Capital on its investment in business-to-business car leasing operator Secto Automotive.
  • Representation of Supercell on its 100% acquisition of Space Ape Games.
  • Representation of Triton on the acquisition of maritime cargo handling company MacGregor, from its Nasdaq Helsinki-listed parent company Cargotec Corporation.
  • Representation of Vaaka Partners on its sale of SaaS company Cloudpermit, a building permitting and land management software provider, to private equity firm The Riverside Company.
  • Representation of Bregal Milestone on its majority recapitalization together with Haveli of M-Files, a leading platform for knowledge work automation.
  • Representation of Intera Fund III on the sale of Roima Intelligence Holding Oy, a leading provider of supply chain and manufacturing software, to Corten Capital, a private equity firm focused on B2B software and services businesses across Europe and North America.
  • Representation of EQT in its entry and exit of Touhula.*
  • Representation of lead investor, Highland Europe, in the investment round of IoT firm Wirepas Oy.*
  • Representation of Esperi Care on its sale of its majority stake to Triton.*
  • Representation of Intera Partners in the sale of Renta Group Oy.*
  • Representation of Mayr-Melnhof Cartonboard International GmbH in its acquisition of Kotkamills Group Oyj.*
  • Representation of Mekonomen on its acquisition of Koivunen, a Finnish vehicles parts and accessories distributor.*
  • Representation of Vaaka in various transactions, including its sale of Solita to Apax and exit of Musti & Mirri to EQT.*
  • Representation of Infinited Fiber Company Oy in its pre-IPO financing round.*
  • Representation of DevCo in its acquisitions of Medix Biochemica and Vexve.*
  • Representation of Smartly.io in the sale of a majority stake to Providence Equity Partners.*
  • Representation of Triton in the sale of Suomen Lähikauppa Oy to Ruokakesko Oy, a subsidiary of Kesko Corporation.*
  • Representation of Hartwall Capital in its acquisitions of LeaseGreen and Remeo.*
  • Representation of Duunitori on its sale to Intera.*
  • Representation of ScandiNova Systems AB in its acquisition of majority of shares in International Electric Company Oy.*
  • Representation of Volvo Car Tech Fund and certain other lead investors in Varjo Technologies Oy's €41 million series D funding round.*
  • Representation of Remeo in its acquisition of Delete Ympäristöpalvelut Oy.*
  • Representation of Huuva Oy in its funding round.*
  • Representation of the lead investor Blossom Capital in the Series A funding round of Zevoy Aktiebolag.*
  • Representation of Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of HyTest Invest Oy and its subsidiaries.*
  • Representation of Assemblin in its acquisition of Tom Allen Senera.*
  • Representation of Umbra in its sale to Amazon.*
  • Representation of Supermetrics in its €40 million Series B investment round.*
  • Representation of Blueprint Genetics in its sale to Quest Diagnostics.*
  • Representation of Sentica Partners in its sale of Ropo Capital.*
  • Representation of Francisco Partners backed SmartBear in its acquisition of Bitbar Technologies.*
  • Representation of YIT in its agreement to establish a joint venture company with Ålandsbanken.*
  • Representation of EQT and Terveystalo in its IPO and listing on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.*
  • Representation of Wise Group in its combination with Sito.*
  • Representation of Trust Kapital in its acquisition of Enfo Zender.*
  • Representation of Terveystalo in its acquisition of Diacor.*
  • Representation of Infratek in its acquisition of Pohjolan Werkonrakennus Oy.*
  • Representation of Humana AB in its acquisition of Arjessa Oy from Sentica Partners.*
  • Representation of Valmet Oyj in its acquisition of the process automation systems business from Metso Oyj.*
  • Representation of the State of Finland in the acquisition of Gazprom's shares in Gasum.*

*Experience prior to joining White & Case