Senior officials working group to assess development of special assignment company Solidium

Sirpa Paatero, the minister responsible for state ownership steering, has established a working group consisting of senior officials to assess the development of the state-owned investment company Solidium. The deadline for the assessment work is the end of April 2015, and the necessary policies will be prepared by the new Government after the parliamentary elections.

Eero Heliövaara, Director General of the Ownership Steering Department in the Prime Minister’s Office, will serve as the chair of the working group. In addition to the Ownership Steering Department, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the Ministry of Finance will be represented in the working group.

“Solidium has operated in its present form since its founding. The state owner considers that now is the right time to carefully assess the effectiveness of the arrangement and any possible need to change,” says Paatero.

The working group’s purpose is to study, with the interests of the state owner in mind, the strengths and weaknesses of Solidium’s operating practices in their present form and to identify the need to make changes.

The working group’s remit is to assess the development of Solidium from, among others, the following perspectives:

• ownership entities, and aspects related to dividend yield, domestic capital markets and other national interests (e.g. industrial structure)
• operating strategies in companies owned and the appropriate level of ownership supporting this
• relationship to Ownership Steering Department and Government decision-making
• appropriate use of resources
• safeguarding Solidium’s operating potential and sufficient capital in the future

The special assignment company Solidium, which is wholly-owned by the state, manages a significant portfolio of assets, valued at approximately eight billion euros. The company’s portfolio consists of investments made in twelve listed companies in which the state has a minority interest.

Inquiries: Petri Vihervuori, Senior Financial Counsellor, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 40 487 2623, petri.vihervuori(at)vnk.fi, and Valtteri Aaltonen, Adviser to the Minister (requests to the minister for comment and interviews), Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 50 462 6693, valtteri.aaltonen(at)vnk.fi

English translation of the press release published on 26 February 2015