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Sorainen Advises Nordea Finland on Moving its Baltic Branches to Swedish Parent Company Nordea Bank

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Sorainen has advised Nordea, the largest financial services group in northern Europe, on the transfer of its Baltic banking business — operated by Nordea Bank Finland in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — to its Swedish parent company Nordea Bank. 

The firm describes the transaction as, "the first transfer of a pan-Baltic credit institution business as a going concern of such scale and complexity covering all three Baltic States,” and says that it "involved transfer of the material part of regulated banking operations of one of the largest banks in the Baltics, and had to be implemented in all three countries simultaneously, despite differences in the legal frameworks.”

Sorainen advised Nordea throughout the transaction, from drafting the initial project implementation plan through to closing and actual transfer of the business. The team supported Nordea in liaising with the local financial supervision authorities in the Baltic States, and established new branches of Nordea Bank in the Baltics. The firm claims that the scope and complexity of the transaction required involvement of most of its practices (including banking and finance, M&A, real estate, dispute resolution, public procurement, employment, and tax). 

The Sorainen team involved lawyers from all three Baltic offices. It was led by Partners Rudolfs Engelis, Tomas Kontautas, and Reimo Hammerberg, and included Senior Associates Santa Rubina, Augustas Klezys, Mantas Petkevicius, and Piret Lappert.