Krogerus advises Danske Bank on the cross-border merger of its Finnish operations

Krogerus advised Danske Bank on the "branchification" of its Finnish operations, carried out by way of a cross-border merger of one of Finland's largest banks, Danske Bank Plc, into Danske Bank A/S, its Danish parent. As a consequence of the merger, Danske Bank A/S, Finland Branch, has extended to encompass the business activities of Danske Bank Plc. With a balance sheet total of some 477 billion euro, Danske Bank is one of the largest banks in the Nordics.

In preparation for the merger, Danske Bank Plc's mortgage credit business was separated to a newly established Finnish credit institution, Danske Mortgage Bank Plc, through a demerger of Danske Bank Plc.

Krogerus' advice covered areas such as the structuring of the transaction, the implementation of the demerger and the cross-border merger, the authorisation of Danske Mortgage Bank Plc as a credit institution, disclosure matters, and tax advice.

The Krogerus team was led by partner Mårten Knuts. He was primarily assisted by partner Päivi Toivari (banking and finance), partner Marko Vuori (corporate), senior associate Paul Raade, associate Antti Luhtala and associate Joel Kanervo (corporate and financial regulatory), partner Antti Lehtimaja and senior associate Sanna Lindqvist (tax), and counsel Thomas Kolster (dispute resolution).