News

Offering of 6 1/2% senior notes due 2024 and 6 7/8% senior notes due 2026 by First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

Waselius & Wist represented First Quantum Minerals Ltd in the Finnish law aspects of the offering of $850,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of 6½% senior notes due 2024 and $1,000,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of 6⁷/₈% senior notes due 2026.

Value: USD 1.95 billion.

Lawyers involved

Tarja Wist

Founding Partner

Henri Kaskimo

Associate

Matti Siiteri

Associate

Fingrid Oyj EMTN Debt Issuance Programme listed on the LSE

Waselius & Wist represented the arranger, ING Bank N.V., and the other dealers in Fingrid Oyj’s EMTN Debt Issuance Programme of 2018.

Value: EUR 1,500,000,000

Lawyers involved

Tarja Wist

Founding Partner

Niklas Thibblin

Managing Partner

Maria Pajuniemi

Associate

Emilia Saloranta

Associate

Government proposal promotes broader base for limitations on interest deductions

The deductibility of interest expenses has been limited since 2014, but only in relation to related party debt. Currently, interest expense is always deductible up the amount of interest income. Further, interest expense exceeding interest income (“net interest expense”) is deductible provided that the amount does not exceed EUR 500,000. If the said EUR 500,000 threshold is exceeded, Finland applies a fixed ratio rule limiting a Finnish company’s tax deductions for net interest expenses on related party debt to 25% of its EBITDA (as adjusted for tax purposes). For calculation purposes, however, both related party and third party debt are taken into account and to the extent that the interest expenses exceed EUR 500,000, the entire amount is subject to the fixed ratio rule. The rules apply on a company-by-company basis, although, for example, amounts of group contributions are added back or deducted, as applicable, from the EBITDA figure. Further, the restrictions on interest deductibility are not applied if the borrower company’s equity ratio (equity vs total balance) is equal to or higher than the same ratio calculated on the basis of a consolidated group balance sheet of the ultimate parent (the “balance sheet test”). In addition, certain industry sectors, such as banking, insurance and most real estate businesses, are currently also excluded from the application of the rules.

In response to the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD I) compiling the BEPS issues identified in the BEPS project, the Finnish government issued last Friday a draft government bill introducing new restrictions on the tax deductibility of interest expenses that are more consistent with the OECD recommendations. Under the proposed new rules, the fixed ratio rule of 25% will remain, but the limitations will be extended to cover also third party debt. Similarly, the EUR 500,000 de minimis rule on related party debt will remain, but companies will, additionally, be faced with a net interest expense threshold of EUR 3,000,000 on third party debt. However, for calculations purposes, interest expenses on third party debt are always deducted first and interest expenses on related party debt may be deducted only to the extent that they are within the 25% fixed ratio rule, assuming that the total amount of net interest expenses exceed the EUR 500,000 threshold. It is additionally proposed that both the balance sheet test and the exclusion of banking, insurance and real estate businesses from the scope of the rules is abolished. Accordingly, all businesses are effectively proposed to come within the scope of the new rules, although purely independent companies (non-group companies) will still be left out.

Clearly, the EUR 3,000,000 de minimis rule on third party debt will target at large businesses where the greatest BEPS risks lie, which, accordingly, to some extent will minimise the impact on smaller companies. The new rules are generally not expected to impact on banking and insurance companies due to the significant net interest income arising from their main operating entities. However, it also means that the effectiveness of the fixed ratio rule could be reduced for groups (through the Finnish group contribution regime) that have, for example, banking type of activities alongside their other businesses. Nonetheless, also banking companies could temporarily find themselves in a net interest expense position as a result of, for example, impairment losses. The position is less clear for investment banking companies which may have leveraged balance sheets but at the same time generate significant non-interest income from advisory, underwriting, and equity or commodity trading businesses.

For real estate companies, the proposed new rules may have a particular impact on the cost of capital as they tend to be more highly leveraged in Finland compared with many other businesses. This could potentially affect their investment decisions and make some marginal investments uneconomic. In the real estate business, EBITDA is sometimes also an ineffective way to measure debt leverage as a number of Finnish real estate companies, due to their structure, have a fairly low EBITDA. Also, as real estate companies are currently not in a position to use the Finnish group contribution regime, and unless these rules are changed, the impact on real estate companies could be more severe compared to others. However, if for example a real estate portfolio is split in a greater number of single real estate companies, each financed based on the target’s particular needs, the net interest expense per each single real estate company could be reduced to have the interest expense match the relevant threshold.

For further information, please contact

Niklas Thibblin

Managing Partner

Jouni Weckström

Specialist Partner

Finnish FSA issues guidelines on national language and filing requirements for KIDs under the PRIIPs Regulation

The PRIIPs Regulation (EU Regulation 1286/2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs)) entered into force on 1 January 2018. The objective of the PRIIPs Regulation and the corresponding delegated regulation is to provide retail investors with clear and summarised information on packaged retail and insurance-based investment products, presented in a uniform and harmonised manner in a Key Information Document (KID). The KID provides information on the key characteristics and complexity of the investment product as well as the related risks and costs. The purpose of the KID is to enable retail investors to compare and choose financial products based on clear, reliable and comparable information.

The Finnish FSA has in its PRIIPs newsletter and supervisory releases highlighted that KIDs presented to Finnish retail investors must in accordance with Article 7 of the PRIIPs Regulation be prepared in either Finnish or Swedish in order to ensure that the investor has sufficient understanding of the product. Furthermore, KIDs must be filed by either the manufacturer or the distributor with the Finnish FSA at the latest when the offering period commences in Finland. The filing is made for information purposes only and the Finnish FSA will not comment on or approve the KID. The language and filing requirements are applicable whenever KIDs are offered to investors other than professional clients, irrespective of whether the offer is made by way of public offer or private placement.

There are currently no available general exemptions with respect to the translation and filing requirements in Finland. The Finnish FSA will, however, collect information from market participants and reconsider the above language and filing requirements in connection with an upcoming review and recast of the FSA regulations and guidelines on marketing of financial products to investors in Finland.

For further information, please contact

Tarja Wist

Founding Partner

Linda Nyman

Associate

Set-Off Law and Practice

Set-Off Law and Practice: An International Handbook, third edition, has now published. The third edition of this guide covers the application and practice of the law of set-off in over 30 jurisdictions spanning Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Published by Oxford University Press in February 2018.

View publication here

Authors:

Tarja Wist

Founding Partner

Structured Finance & Securitisation Global Guide 2017/18

A Q&A guide to structured finance and securitisation law published by Thomson Reuters Practical Law, December 2017.

This Q&A provides an overview of the markets and legal regimes, issues relating to the SPV and the securities issued, transferring the receivables, dealing with security and risk, cash flow, ratings, tax issues, variations to the securitisation structure and reform proposals.

View the Finnish chapter here

Authors:

Tarja Wist

Founding Partner

Ann-Marie Eklund

Associate

Waselius & Wist top-ranked Finnish law firm by Mergermarket (Q1)

Mergermarket ranks Waselius & Wist third in the Finnish advisory league table for the first quarter of 2018. The ranking is based on the total deal value of M&A transactions, where the target company was located in Finland. Mergermarket is a leading M&A data and intelligence provider.

For more information, please visit https://www.mergermarket.com/pdf/MergermarketLegalLeagueTableReport.Q12018.pdf or contact any of our partners.

Waselius & Wist winner of the Managing IP Awards 2018

Waselius & Wist won the ”Impact case of 2018” award yesterday at the Managing IP Awards gala in London. The award is for work well done in the trademark case Abloy v Hardware Group that IP partner Bernt Juthström successfully litigated all the way to the Finnish Supreme Court. Waselius & Wist represented Hardware Group.

Congratulations to the whole team!