Jouni Salmi

Partner, Helsinki

Jouni Salmi is Head of Roschier’s Private M&A practice and co-Head of the Public M&A practice in Finland. He has extensive experience in complex multi-jurisdictional transactions, including industrial carve-outs and divestments, involving both industrial clients and private equity sponsors. Jouni has acted for numerous listed companies, private equity sponsors and multi-national corporations, and he has in-depth knowledge in a wide variety of industry sectors such as forest, telecommunications and payment industries. His previous work experience includes working as in-house counsel for a major telecommunications operator in Sweden and Finland.

Jouni has extensive knowledge of both the Finnish and Swedish M&A market, and he has completed numerous deals in Finland and Sweden as well as in other jurisdictions. He is a member of the Bar Association in both Finland and Sweden, and holds an LL.M degree from the University of Brussels.

Jouni is ranked Band 1 in Corporate/M&A in Finland by Chambers Global and Chambers Europe. He is also recognized as one of the leading experts in corporate/M&A in Finland by international legal directories such as The Legal 500, IFLR1000 and Who’s Who Legal.

Clients say that Jouni is “exceptionally responsive and committed to the client. He is also highly skilled at navigating complexities in a transaction” (Chambers Global, 2023). He receives further praise for being “very dedicated to clients; he listens to the client’s needs and is very analytical” (Chambers Global, 2022). He is also an “excellent negotiator, has a very deep knowledge of the market” and he is “committed and creative, a great partner to have on your side for high level transactions” (The Legal 500, 2023).

Clients commend Jouni as a “solid general advisor, excellent at driving project forward” (The Legal 500, 2020) and also “very engaged, responsive and with good industry knowledge” (Chambers Europe, 2020) having a “pragmatic and deal-driven approach” (Chambers Europe, 2020). He receives praise for having “strong technical skills” (The Legal 500, 2020), being “easy to communicate with” and for his ability to “explain difficult legal aspects in an understandable manner” (Chambers Europe, 2021). Clients deem that his “experience, strategic view and vision makes him stand out from the others” (The Legal 500, 2022).

Jouni Salmi’s experience includes advising:

  • Brown-Forman in the sale of Brown-Forman Finland Oy, owner of the Finlandia vodka brand, to Coca-Cola HBC;
  • Metso in the acquisition of Ab A. Häggblom Oy;
  • Vipps in its business combination with MobilePay, creating one of the largest mobile wallets in Europe;
  • Outokumpu in the divestment of the majority of its Long Products business operations to Marcegaglia Steel Group;
  • InfraVia Capital Partners in the sale of Aurora Infrastructure Oy to the funds managed by Equitix;
  • Neste in the establishment of a joint venture with Marathon Petroleum for production of renewable fuels;
  • Telia in the SEK 5,500 million sale of 49% stake in its towers business in Sweden to Brookfield and Alecta;
  • IK Partners in the acquisition of Renta Group Oy from Intera Partners;
  • Wolt in the EUR 7 billion sale of the company to DoorDash;
  • Telia in the EUR 722 million sale of part of its tower business in Norway and Finland;
  • Suomen Autokauppa (Saka) in connection with Ilmarinen’s and ELO’s investments in Saka;
  • First Sentier Investors in the sale of 40% interest in Caruna to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and KKR;
  • Akzo Nobel N.V. in its EUR 1.4 billion public competing proposal for a tender offer for all shares in Tikkurila Oyj;
  • Neles in Alfa Laval’s EUR 1.7 billion recommended public cash tender offer for all the shares in Neles Corporation;
  • Boels Group in its public cash tender offer for Cramo Plc;
  • A-Katsastus Group and Bridgepoint in the sale of A-Katsastus Group to MB Funds;
  • Loxam S.A.S in its EUR 970 million public tender offer for Ramirent Plc;
  • Cognizant in the acquisition of Samlink;
  • Telia Company in the legal separation of Telia’s Finnish tele and data communication infrastructure into a separate company, Telia Towers Finland Oy through a partial demerger;
  • Investor consortium led by ANTA Sports Products Limited in the EUR 4.6 billion public offer for Amer Sports;
  • A-Katsastus Group Oy and Bridgepoint in the sale of A-Katsastus Group’s business operations in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Poland to IK Investment Partners;
  • Funds managed by CapMan Buyout in the sale of their holdings in Walki Group to One Equity Partners;
  • First State Investments in the sale of Digita Oy to Digital Colony;
  • Nets in the recommended all-cash takeover offer for Nets A/S by Evergood 5 AS, a newly formed company controlled by funds managed and advised by Hellman & Friedman LLC.

Roschier (2006-), Partner since 2010
TeliaSonera AB, Corporate Counsel (2003-2006)
Sonera Corporation, Senior Legal Counsel (2000-2003)
Law clerk, trained at the Bench (1998)
Brander & Manner Law Firm, Associate Lawyer (1997-2000)
Sampo Insurance Company, Claims Manager (1996)

Member of the Finnish Bar Association
Admitted to the EU Register of the Swedish Bar Association

University of Brussels, LL.M. (1997)
University of Turku, LL.M. (1996)

English, Finnish, Swedish

Jouni is exceptionally responsive and committed to the client. He is also highly skilled at navigating complexities in a transaction.

Chambers Global