IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Avance is primarily characterised as an M&A boutique however its finance expertise is headed up by former bank counsel and Hannes Snellman partner Sari Wallgren. The finance team also includes partners Elisa Heinonen, formerly of Roschier, and Ilkka Perheentupa, who joined from Goldman Sachs.

According to a client, Wallgren is "very hands on and already quite experienced. She has good knowledge on real estate financing; she is pragmatic, finds good solution for banks and is very diligent and good in drafting and communication". Another banking client says Wallgren "is very good at understanding the while picture" and "asks all the right questions". Peers also consider her "a very able lawyer".

Deals
Sari Wallgren got the ball rolling on the finance side with advice to Intera Partners for the financing of its acquisition of Kamux, Finland's largest car retailer. The acquisition is part of a consolidation in the Finnish car retail business driven by Intera.

Although Avance is very much known for its M&A expertise a number of its partners are highly capable in capital markets on the equity and debt side. The most prominent individuals would include Ulf-Henrik Kull for equity work and Elisa Heinonen and Sari Wallgren on the debt side.

As a boutique, the firm may not have the capacity for instance to handle a large IPO and capital markets may not be a core practice, as M&A would be, however peers consistently point out that team highly capable and its recent matters showcase an ability to work on large and cross-border equity deals.

Deals
The firm won a couple of roles on significant capital markets transactions. In one deal, Elisa Heinonen and Ulf-Henrik Kull advised the state owned investment company Solidium as principal shareholder of Outokumpu, on matters relating to Outokumpu's €1 billion rights offering.

In a second notable mandate, Ilkka Perheentupa, Anders Floman and Tanja Koivistoinen acted for Mandatum Life Insurance Company in its participation in the $105 million private placement by Delaware based Red Leaf Resources, completed in March 2012. The deal was structured under US law and showcases the firm's US law capabilities, which allowed the team to act as lead counsel on the deal.

Avance is a heavy hitting M&A boutique with a strong partner heavy team. Ulf-Henrik Kull is the big name at the firm and along with Carl-Henrik Wallin, Mathias Lindqvist and Christopher Charpentier he makes up one of the most formidable teams around. All the leading partners joined from the top echelons of Roschier and Hannes Snellman.

"Kull is an absolutely extremely good M&A lawyer… the set-up is very interesting [and] we will keep a close eye on them," says a competitor, adding that "I am sure it will make its way upwards". Clients praise Kull and "have full confidence in him and his ability" while another says: "the quality of skill is very high level and all lawyers have backgrounds in big law firms with high standards… they have a good knowledge base, very straight forward way of working and they analyse the essence of each case".

Deals
Elisa Heinonen and Ulf-Henrik Kull acted for Solidium, a state-owned investment company, as the majority shareholder of Outokumpu on the combination between the latter and Inoxum. Inoxum, valued at €2.7 billion, makes it one of the largest ever M&A transactions involving a Finnish company.

Kull led another team to represent Suomen Terveystalo and its principal shareholder Bridgepoint on its acquisition of Condia in April 2012 and to assist Intera Partners on its acquisition of Kamux, Finland's largest car retailer.

A fourth notable deal saw Mathias Lindqvist and Christopher Charpentier, with associate Björn Söderblom, advise Swedbank Group company Ektornet on the sale of two office real estate companies to Pension Tapiola for €39 million, marking one of the largest business retail park transactions of 2012.