Dovre Group’s long-running troubles in renewable construction crystallized today. The board of Suvic Oy, the primary execution unit for Dovre’s core business of renewable energy, has filed for bankruptcy, after a sequence of losses, disputes, and terminated projects finally closed off room for maneuver.

The bankruptcy petition was filed with the Oulu District Court on 2 January, based on Dovre’s release on the same day. Chairman Kalervo Rötsä said that the business of Dovre and its other subsidiaries, Proha, Renetec, and the business unit eSite, will continue as usual.

A single subsidiary becomes systemic risk

Solar and wind farm builder Suvic has been the operational backbone of Dovre’s renewable energy segment, responsible for large-scale solar and wind construction projects in Finland and Sweden. In the first three quarters of this year, Dovre earned almost all of its income from this segment. Over the past year, it also became the group’s main source of financial risk.

Before the final step, pressure had been building. In December, Suvic lost a district court case related to a wind farm earthworks and cabling contract, according to Dovre’s release. The ruling required Suvic to pay roughly EUR 3.2 million in instalments, damages, and legal costs. Dovre had already recognized a EUR 3.5 million provision tied to dispute risks in its October profit warning.

On Friday morning, the pressure intensified further when Alight Ukko Oy terminated Suvic’s Eurajoki solar park construction contract, removing a key revenue stream just moments after the bankruptcy filing.

Guarantees move to center stage

The immediate concern for investors is no longer Suvic’s operations but Dovre’s guarantees. The parent company estimates that joint and several guarantees linked to Suvic total around EUR 63 million, with an additional EUR 26 million in counter guarantees to financial institutions.

Dovre says negotiations on these arrangements are ongoing and will be reported separately. Crucially, the parent company has stopped financing Suvic, drawing a legal and financial line between the two.

This matters because Dovre already warned in October that, without new financing or project revenue, it would struggle to meet payment obligations in early 2026. The bankruptcy of the revenue-generating unit further aggravates an already fragile situation.

Management changes and late transparency

The collapse did not come out of nowhere. In its Q3 trading statement, Dovre acknowledged that financial transparency at Suvic had been insufficient, with underestimated project costs and weak project management only becoming fully visible during last summer.

“The root causes of the weak financial performance have been identified as underestimated project costs, inadequate project management capabilities, and insufficient forward-looking reporting practices,” the company said at the time.

Management turnover followed. Acting CEO Sanna Outa-Ollila resigned in November, and interim CFO Timo Saarinen stepped in as acting CEO, combining both roles at a time when liquidity risks were intensifying.

Shareholders face dilution risk

An extraordinary general meeting on 23 January will ask shareholders to authorize the board to issue up to 400 million new shares, with a significant portion potentially issued without payment. The stated aims include strengthening the capital structure, reducing guarantee liabilities, and improving liquidity.

In practice, this signals that equity dilution is now a realistic scenario, not a remote contingency.

For Dovre, the coming weeks will be about survival rather than strategy. The Suvic bankruptcy simplifies the structure, but it does not end the reckoning. That will depend on how much of the guarantee exposure ultimately lands back on the parent, and whether investors are willing to fund the next chapter.

Trading in Dovre’s shares has been suspended since 30 December. The stock has fallen by more than 70 percent over the past 12 months.