Finland’s largest companies are now led almost as often by foreigners as Finns

Drone countermeasures company Sensofusion plans to list on Nasdaq Helsinki in October at a pre-money valuation of up to €1.3 billion. That would make it the first growth company to join the Helsinki exchange valued above €1 billion. The company aims to raise about €300 million in new shares, and four Finnish institutions have already committed €170 million of that.

The anchor investors are Elo, Ilmarinen, Varma and funds managed by OP Fund Management . The offering will include a public offering in Finland and an institutional offering in Finland and internationally, including in the US. The majority shareholder, Haave Oy, and some other shareholders will also sell existing shares.

A 60.8% operating margin carries the valuation

Sensofusion's revenue rose almost 90% in 2025 to €35 million, with profit of more than €23 million. In the first half of 2026, revenue grew another 122%. In the 12 months to the end of June 2026, the operating margin was 60.8%. Revenue grew at an average annual rate of 91.1% between the 2024 financial year and that 12-month period. Earlier this decade, annual revenue was around €700,000.

The company's main product, Airfence, detects hostile drones and can disable them by radio jamming. Customers include Ukraine, NASA, the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard. "A large number of our customers are operational in some way, involved in war," said founder and CEO Tuomas Rasila.

The company says most of its revenue already comes from outside conflict zones. Rasila expects demand to grow whether or not the war in Ukraine continues, pointing to NATO members' commitment to spend 3.5 to 5% of GDP on defence. "There is nothing we hope for more than the end of war," he said. Chairman Timo Ahopelto put the market's annual growth at about 30%. "By 2030, the market will increase approximately fivefold," he said.

The proceeds will fund research and development in software, detection and countermeasure technologies, artificial intelligence and satellite capabilities. They will also pay for more production and testing capacity and strengthen the balance sheet.

The European Commission is set to block the €1.42 billion graphic paper joint venture between UPM and Sappi after the two companies declined to offer concessions, according to people familiar with the matter. The report lands six weeks before UPM's other portfolio exit, the demerger of its plywood business into WISA Group, is due to complete.

The companies also failed to persuade regulators at a closed-door hearing earlier that week, where they argued the deal would make the industry more sustainable and resilient. Selling assets to win approval is not considered an option because buyers are hard to find. The Commission has until 11 November to decide. UPM and Sappi declined to comment.

UPM planned to move about 30% of its sales out of the group

The two transactions together cover Communication Papers, with €2,493 million in 2025 sales, and Plywood, with €409 million. Against group sales of €9,656 million, that is roughly 30% of UPM's revenue, according to Listeds calculations based on the company figures.

The plywood exit is close to done. UPM's extraordinary general meeting approved the WISA Group demerger on 31 August 2026 and elected its board, chaired by Tapio Korpeinen. Completion is expected on or about 31 October, with trading on Nasdaq Helsinki from 2 November. Shareholders receive one WISA share for each UPM share, and the Finnish Tax Administration has ruled the demerger tax-neutral.

The difference between the two is who has the final say. The demerger needed UPM's own shareholders, a tax ruling and a prospectus approval, and it has cleared all three. The joint venture needs merger control approval from the European Commission and from authorities in the US and China. WISA starts trading on 2 November, and the Commission must decide by 11 November. Within those nine days, UPM will learn whether it is exiting one business or two.

Regulatory concerns grew while the deal moved forward on schedule

UPM and Sappi signed a non-binding letter of intent on 4 December 2025. The plan was a non-listed 50/50 joint venture combining Sappi's European graphic paper business with UPM Communication Papers in Europe, the UK and the US. The Commission opened a Phase II investigation on 28 April 2026. UPM called this a normal step when initial concerns have not been resolved 

One month later, on 28 May, the parties signed the definitive agreement. They also secured €600 million of external financing and a €100 million revolving credit facility, both underwritten by Citi and Nordea. 

In August the Commission sent a statement of objections. It said the venture could gain enough market power to raise prices and lower quality in coated mechanical and coated wood-free paper, the grades used for magazines, books and promotional print. "The Commission is currently unconvinced that integrating the relevant activities in the joint venture would bring enough benefits, in terms of cost savings or environmental or resilience improvements, to offset the potential harm," it said.

UPM said it was confident it could respond fully to the concerns, and that it "remains convinced that the planned joint venture is a necessary step to secure reliable supply continuity for graphic paper customers in Europe". Sappi called the objections a "standard" step and said it expected a positive outcome by the end of the year. Three weeks later, the companies declined to offer concessions.

Both of UPM's exits were staffed from inside the parent companies

The companies kept building the organisation after the objections arrived. In early September, Gunnar Eberhardt was conditionally nominated as CEO and Stephen Blyth as CFO. On 14 September four more nominations followed: Jan Gustafsson for human resources, Marco Eikelenboom for sales and marketing, Antti Hermonen for operations, and Jan-Sander van Tuijl for supply chain 

Of the five nominees whose current roles were disclosed, three come from Sappi Europe and two from UPM Communication Papers. Eikelenboom, currently CEO of Sappi Europe, commented in December that “To remain competitive and sustainable in the long term, consolidation is needed. Consolidation will contribute to a more robust and resilient European graphic paper industry, safeguarding security of domestic supply for the printing sector.” All the nominations depend on regulatory approval, and the current leaders stay in their roles until closing. If the veto happens, the whole team stays where it is.

The same pattern holds at WISA, where Tuija Suur-Hamari moves from running UPM Plywood to chief executive of the new listed company. Listeds has covered the leadership side of this year's Helsinki demergers in Two new listed CEOs, no search, no external hire. The difference is that Suur-Hamari's appointment is certain, while the joint venture team's depends on Brussels.