Hannes Snellman’s cross-border Technology practice is one of the leading practices in the Nordic market. Our Technology team has vast experience in all aspects of technology law matters, ranging from traditional IT and outsourcing transactions to cloud computing, the Internet of things (IoT), agile software development, fintech, data and data regulation, as well as robotic process automation and artificial intelligence (AI).

Our team advises both buyers and suppliers of technology and related services, most typically on business-critical projects. We have the privilege of working with some of the world’s most innovative companies and companies seen as pioneers in their field, which means that we are continuously exposed to new technologies and business models that are shaping industries. We also continuously follow and analyse the legal implications of the technologies and business models of tomorrow, so that we know what is coming well before it becomes mainstream and can help our clients efficiently navigate in the increasingly important and complex field of technology law.

As the world is continuously becoming more converged with industries one after another being affected by the advances of technology, digitalisation, and the data economy, advising clients from silos is not an option for us. Therefore, we work closely and seamlessly with our other practices to include the necessary industry and sector expertise into the assignments of our Technology practice.

We understand the global nature of today’s business and have established relationships with the leading technology law practices around the world. This means that we can and do serve our clients wherever their business and need for legal services may take them and are capable and used to managing global projects for our clients.

Our seasoned Technology Litigation team understands the complexity of technology-related disputes whether they are in general courts or in arbitration.

To achieve the business goals of our clients, our seasoned and business-oriented litigators suggest litigation and settlement strategies that may consist, for example, of obtaining a fast interim injunction or other relief, settlement negotiations to resolve the case out of court and before trial, or creative but thorough tactics for litigation or arbitration.

In each case, we form a dedicated team of experts to correspond to the type and extent of the case and work closely with our Dispute Resolution and Competition & Procurement practices. We represent our clients in Finnish and Swedish authorities and courts, as well as in the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the Court of Justice of the European Union. With regard to arbitration, we represent our clients in international arbitration institutes, such as the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, in addition to Finnish and Swedish arbitration institutes.

Our Technology Litigation team frequently acts, for example in:

• Arbitration regarding complex contractual issues, often relating to software
• Patent litigation in many different fields of technology
• Trade secret litigation
• Trademark and domain name litigation also covering anti-counterfeiting and unfair business practices
• Copyright and database disputes often relating to software or digital rights
• Complex contractual issues relating to intellectual property and technology
• Disputes relating to public procurement

The rapidly evolving technology has transformed outsourcing from a mere cost-saving measure to a strategic catalyst for accessing market-leading know-how and cutting-edge innovations. Today’s effective outsourcing strategies can combine the benefits of the improved quality of IT and business processes with driven down costs and a more responsive business environment.

Acting for both corporate and public-sector clients as well as top service providers has helped us to understand the priorities of clients across a broad spectrum of technologies and business sectors. We have been guiding clients throughout the outsourcing life cycle, from identifying the right mix of internal and external IT services to contract negotiations and implementation of the outsourcing model. We also advise clients on the outsourcing of the full range of business processes, such as asset and cash management, finance and accounting, human resources and administration, as well as procurement and facilities and logistics management. The depth of our experience at all sourcing levels (including onshore, offshore, and nearshore) helps our clients turn potential options into viable and well-executed outsourcing partnerships.

In addition to outsourcing, we advise our clients in complex ICT transactions, such as ICT project deliveries, cloud computing contracting, and ongoing ICT service arrangements.

Among a wide variety of compliance areas that companies nowadays need to be aware of, data protection is regarded as a “new-comer”. This is not because there has not been any previous legislation on the topic, but because the strict new requirements set forth in the upcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Regulation, coupled with potentially massive fines for non-compliance, has meant that privacy has quickly become one of the hottest areas within the field of compliance.

To help our clients to steer through the changing waves, we offer a complete and tailor-made approach on data protection compliance, including management and implementation. Our approach is strongly influenced by our view that meeting the requirements of the GDPR (and other data privacy legislation) should be regarded as a business enabler and not solely as a compliance issue. We advise our clients in:

• everyday questions regarding the interpretation of and compliance with data protection and privacy laws
• drafting and reviewing relevant documentation (privacy policies, consent forms, etc.)
• general matters and help with negotiating and drafting data processing contracts and clauses
• preparing data protection impact assessments
• internal and external communication related to data protection
• sector and industry specific privacy questions (for example, HR, healthcare, financial services, electronic communications)
• training their HR, Legal, IT, sales & marketing teams, among other things

Hannes Snellman’s Technology practice advises clients in relation to the public procurement of technology and digital assets. Due to our exceptional combination of deep understanding in public procurement and technology within the same team, we are able to offer strategic advice in the most demanding matters. Our team advices clients before, during, and after tendering competitions. We provide assistance to contracting entities in the preparation of calls to tender, market surveys, negotiated procedures, as well as court proceedings and contractual negotiations. We provide assistance to bidders with regard to influencing in tendering competitions during market surveys, analysis of calls to tender, compliance with calls to tender, risk analysis, drafting of bids, review procedures in court proceedings, as well as contractual negotiations. In addition, our experts regularly offer training sessions to our clients.

Hannes Snellman, together with Hogan Lovells and Gleiss Lutz, successfully represented Supponor entities in the Helsinki Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in a case concerning a digital overlay technology. As requested by the defendants, the court dismissed the patent holder’s preliminary injunction application and main action due to lack of jurisdiction, as the asserted patent had initially been opted-out from the UPC’s jurisdiction, and its subsequent attempted opt-out withdrawal was deemed ineffective under Art. 83 of the UPC Agreement due to pending national proceedings. This was the first oral hearing and first decision by the Helsinki Local Division of the UPC since the launch of the UPC on 1 June 2023

Parties:

Recover Group (Seller), Mutares Holding-69 GmbH (Buyer), Recover Nordic Oy (Target)

Transaction:

Divestment of Recover Nordic Oy

Deal value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Recover Group

Parties:

Catena Media (seller), Moneta Communications (buyer)

Transaction:

Hannes Snellman counsel to Moneta Communications Ltd in its acquisition of UK and Australian online sports betting brands from Catena Media plc

Deal value: 

EUR 6.0 million

Role:

Counsel to Moneta Communications Ltd

Parties:

Finnlines Plc

Transaction: 

Counsel to Finnlines Plc in its ERP programme where Finnlines will transfer its finance operations to cloud-based Oracle Fusion ERP. 

Value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Finnlines Plc

Parties:

Responda Group, a portfolio company of IK Partners, H1 Communication

Transaction: 

Counsel to Responda Group, a portfolio company of IK Partners, in the acquisition of H1 Communication

Value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Responda Group

Parties:

Intersections, LLC, OVPN Integritet AB

Transaction: 

Hannes Snellman acted, together with Buhler, Duggal & Henry LLP, as Swedish counsel to Intersections, LLC (part of the Pango Group) in the acquisition of OVPN Integritet AB from Foliehatt AB and Rehn Studios AB

Value:

Value not public

Role:

Swedish counsel to Intersections, LLC (part of the Pango Group)

Parties:

Mecenat Aktiebolag (buyer), PFG Media AB (target)

Transaction:

Counsel to Mecenat Aktiebolag, a portfolio company of IK Partners, in the acquisition of PFG Media AB

Deal value:

Value not published

Role:

Counsel to IK and Mecenat Aktiebolag

Parties:

Marshall Family, Zound Industries International AB

Transaction: 

Zound Industries International AB has agreed to acquire Marshall Amplification

Value:

Value not public 

Role:

Swedish counsel to the Marshall Family

Parties:

Sega Europe Limited and SEGA Corporation (Buyers) Rovio Entertainment Corporation (Target)

Transaction:

Counsel to Sega Europe Limited and SEGA Corporation in the recommended public cash tender offer for all shares and options in Rovio Entertainment Corporation.

Deal value: 

Approximately EUR 706 million

Role:

Counsel to Sega Europe Limited and SEGA Corporation

Parties:

Equip Capital (bidder), Remagruppen (target)

Transaction:

Equip Capital acquired Remagruppen

Deal value: 

Value not public 

Role:

Counsel to Equip Capital

Parties:

DYNAmore and Ansys, Inc.

Transaction:

Swedish counsel to Ansys in its acquisition of Automotive Simulation Channel Partner DYNAmore

Deal:

Value not public

Role:

Swedish counsel to Ansys, Inc.

Parties:

Suitespot AB (Target), Staria Oyj (Bidder)

Transaction:

Staria acquires Suitespot

Deal value:

Value not public  

Role:

Counsel to Staria Oyj

Parties:

Riverside Company, Monias Torkduk AB

Transaction:

Vita Verita acquired by Riverside Company

Deal value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Riverside Company

Parties: 

IK Small Cap III Fund, Responda Group

Transaction:

IK Small Cap III Fund’s investment in Responda Group

Deal Value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to IK Partners

Parties:

MediaMarkt Sweden, Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH, Power International AS

Transaction:

Northern European electronics retailer Power acquired 100 per cent of the shares in MediaMarkt Sweden.

Deal value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Power Sweden International AS

Parties

Thoma Bravo, VisualCron

Transaction

SMA Technologies, a provider of automation solutions for financial services, has acquired VisualCron, a Swedish automation, integration and task scheduling tool for Windows environments.

Deal Value

Value not public

Role

Counsel to Thoma Bravo

Parties 

PCP and Avia Pharma AB

Transaction

PCP in its SEK 350 million term loan to Avia Pharma AB

Deal Value 

SEK 350 million term loan

Role 

Counsel to PCP

Counsel to TouchPoint Medical Nordic AB in setting up a co-operation agreement with ApoEx AB for the distribution and licensing of TouchPoint Medical’s automated dispensing cabinets

Counsel to Enerim Oy in the negotiated public procurement process for a service-based IT solution for Customer, Market and Invoicing functionality initiated by Göteborg Energi

Parties 

Schaeffler (bidder), H2 Green Steel (target)

Transaction 

Schaeffler, a leading global supplier to the automotive and industrial sectors and one of the world’s largest family companies, investment in the Swedish green impact company H2 Green Steel.

Deal Value 

H2 Green Steel raises EUR 190m in series B round

Role 

Counsel to Schaeffler 

Parties

Norgesdekk AS (buyers), Valla Dackverkstad (target)

Transaction

Valla Dackverkstad 67% stake to be acquired by Norgesdekk

Deal Value

SEK 80 660 000

Role

Acted as Swedish counsel to Norgesdekk AS 

Parties:

Applied Materials Inc. (buyer), Picosun Oy (target)

Transaction:

The acquisition of Picosun Oy, an innovator in atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology, primarily for specialty semiconductors.

Deal Value:

Value not public

Role:

Finnish counsel to Applied Materials Inc.

Parties:

Novedo, Nordsign AB, ProvideU, Elektronik Mekanik in Västerås

Transaction:

Counsel to Novedo in the acquisition of Nordsign AB, and its portfolio company ProvideU in the acquisition of Elektronik Mekanik in Västerås

Deal Value:

Not public

Role:

Counsel to Novedo and ProvideU

Parties:

Xindao, Vinga Sweden

Transaction:

Counsel to Xindao in Its Acquisition of Vinga Sweden

Deal Value:

Not public

Role:

Counsel to Xindao

Parties

Gores Guggenheim, Inc., The Gores Group and Guggenheim Capital, LLC, and Polestar.

Transaction

Gores Guggenheim, Inc. in its closing of business combination with Polestar

Deal value

The transaction implies an equity value of approximately USD 20 billion for Polestar.

Role

Legal advisor to Gores Guggenheim, Inc. together with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

Parties:

Sitowise (buyer), Bitcomp Oy (target)

Transaction:

Counsel to Sitowise in its acquisition of Bitcomp Oy

Deal Value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Sitowise

Parties:

KLAR Partners, Oleter Group, Swoosh

Transaction:

Counsel to KLAR Partners backed Oleter Group in the merger between its underground infrastructure maintenance business (UIM) and Swoosh

Deal Value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to KLAR Partners 

Parties:

Rebellion, Stockholm Betongkonsult AB

Transaction:

Counsel to Rebellion in the acquisition of Stockholm Betongkonsult AB

Deal Value:

Value not public

Role:

Counsel to Rebellion

Parties 

Kingdom of Sweden (Seller), Metria AB (Target), Sikri Holding AS (Buyer)

Transaction 

Counsel to the Kingdom of Sweden in the sale of Metria AB to Sikri Holding AS

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role

Counsel to the Kingdom of Sweden

Parties

Paulig Group (seller), Valio (buyer), Gold&Green brand, intellectual property and R&D function (target)

Transaction

The divestment of Paulig’s Gold&Green brand, intellectual property and R&D function to Valio

Deal Value

Value not public

Role

Counsel to Paulig Group

Parties 

Oriola Corporation, Euroapotheca, Kronans Apotek and Apoteksgruppen

Transaction 

Counsel to Oriola Corporation in the Formation of a Joint Venture with Euroapotheca combining the Swedish retail pharmacy chains Kronans Apotek and Apoteksgruppen.

Deal Value 

Role

Counsel to Oriola Corporation

Parties 

Savvy Gaming Group, ESL Gaming, FACEIT

Transaction 

Counsel to Savvy Gaming Group in its acquisition of ESL Gaming and FACEIT

Deal Value 

SEK 15 billion

Role

Counsel to Savvy Gaming Group

Parties 

Mangold AB

Transaction 

Hannes Snellman acted as counsel to Mangold AB in  its listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market.

Deal Value 

Not public

Role

Counsel to Mangold AB

Parties
Lassila & Tikanoja plc (JV shareholder), Neova Oy (JV shareholder), L&T Biowatti Oy (joint venture company)

Transaction
Counsel to Lassila & Tikanoja plc, a service company that is putting the circular economy into practice, in creating a joint venture with Neova Oy consolidating the parties’ energy wood businesses in Finland and Estonia. The joint venture’s turnover is approximately EUR 100 million and it employs approximately 100 employees.

Deal Value
Not disclosed

Role
Legal counsel to L&T plc

Parties 

Fazer Group and Trensums Food

Transaction 

Counsel to Fazer Group in its acquisition of Trensums Food

Deal Value 

Role

Counsel to Fazer Group

Parties

Tosibox Oy, Nexit Ventures and its partner 3TS Capital Partners

Transaction

Counsel to Tosibox Oy, a provider of operational technology networking platforms for enterprises and organisations, in raising new equity funding from Nexit Ventures and its partner 3TS Capital Partners.

Deal Value

EUR 5 million

Role

Counsel to Tosibox Oy

Parties 

Wikström Family, Granitor, Mohammed Al Amoudi, Midroc Europe

Transaction 

Counsel to the Wikström Family when Midroc Becomes Granitor

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role

Counsel to the Wikström Family

Parties 

Gores Guggenheim, Inc., Polestar

Transaction 

Counsel to Gores Guggenheim, Inc., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formed by the affiliates of The Gores Group and Guggenheim Capital, LLC, in its proposed business combination with the global electric performance car company Polestar.

Deal Value 

Role

Counsel to Gores Guggenheim, Inc.

Parties 

Virala Acquisition Company Plc, Purmo Group Ltd

Transaction 

Virala Acquisition Company Plc's merger with Purmo Group Ltd.

Deal Value 

EUR 685 million

Role

Counsel to Virala Acquisition Company Plc

Parties 

Abracon LLC (a portfolio company of The Riverside Company) as Buyer and the selling shareholders of ProAnt AB as sellers  

Transaction 

Advisng The Riverside Company and its portfolio company Abracon LLC on the acquisition of Proant AB and Proant Asia Limited

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role

Advisor to Private Equity Sponsor Riverside and its portfolio company Abracon LLC  

Parties 

SEB Private Equity

Transaction 

SEB Private Equity in its investment in and partnership with Eatery

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role

Counsel to SEB Private Equity

Parties 

IK Investment Partners

Transaction 

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) in its investment in Mecenat Holding AB

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role

Counsel to IK Investment Partners

Parties 

Vitec Software Group AB (publ)

Transaction 

Nordman & Co

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role 

Counsel to Vitec Software Group AB (publ)

Parties 

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., Cognate BioServices, Inc. Cobra Biologics 

Transaction 

Swedish counsel to Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. in the acquisition of Cognate BioServices, Inc,. including its Swedish and British subsidiaries Cobra Biologics.

Deal value 

The purchase price amounted approximately USD 875 million. 

Role 

Counsel to Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.

Parties 

Vitec Software Group (publ), Travelize International AB

Transaction 

Vitec Software Group acquires the Swedish software company Travelize International AB

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role 

Counsel to Vitec Software Group (publ)

Parties 

Savaria Corporation, Handicare Group AB

Transaction 

Savaria Corporation in Its Public Offer for Handicare Group AB

Deal value

The offer values Handicare at approximately SEK 2.9 billion

Role

Counsel to Savaria Corporation

Parties 

Sitowise Holding AB, TFIP

Transaction 

Sitowise in the Acquisition of TFIP

Value

Value not public

Role 

Counsel to Intera Partners backed Sitowise Holding AB

Parties

Telia Finland (Seller) and AddSecure (Buyer)

Transaction

Telia Finland’s divestment of Telia Alerta business to AddSecure

Deal Value

Value not public

Role

Counsel to Seller/Telia Finland

Parties 

TrønderEnergi AS, Scandinavian Biogas

Transaction

The Norwegian energy company TrønderEnergi has become the largest shareholder in Scandinavian Biogas, a leading producer of biogas in the Nordics.

Deal value 

Value not public 

Role

Swedsih counsel to TrønderEnergi AS

Parties

Sanoma Media Finland Oy (Seller), Schibsted (buyer), Oikotie Ltd (target)

Transaction

The sale of Sanoma’s online classifieds business Oikotie to Schibsted

Deal value

EUR 185 million

Role

Counsel to Sanoma Group

Core team

Riikka Rannikko, Jesper Nevalainen, Mikko Huimala, Agda Vähä-Piikkö, Jenni Heurlin, Anton Pirinen

Parties 

Siemens AB, Vizendo

Transaction

Siemens has acquired Swedish service and software company Vizendo AB, a provider of virtual operator training for industrial companies.

Deal Value

Value not public

Role

Counsel to Siemens AB

Parties

Fortum Recharge AS, Infracapital, Fortum

Transaction

Infracapital in the acquisition of 63% of Fortum Recharge AS with subsidiaries.

Deal Value 

Value not public

Role 

Swedish and Finnish counsel to Infracapital

Parties

Smartly.io Solutions Oy and its owners, Providence Equity Partners

Transaction

Counsel to Smartly.io and its owners in the sale of a majority stake to Providence Equity Partners

Deal Value

EUR 200 million

Role

Counsel to Smartly.io Solutions Oy and its owners