Building new growth

International activities are important for the development of the Finnish risk capital market

Finland’s economic structure is undergoing a strong transition. By improving competitiveness and by investing in growth and new business, we will retain and create jobs. There were plenty of positive signs of budding new growth in 2013. There is a strong uplift in the entrepreneurial culture in Finland.

Finnish Industry Investment had an active year in 2013. The deal flow was good for both fund investments and direct investments. FII's new commitments totalled €130 million. At the end of 2013, FII's investments and commitments amounted to €793 million.

The Finnish Government made a decision to increase the FII share capital by €30 million for the establishment of FoF Growth II. FoF Growth II was launched with a total capital of €130 million in early 2014, with commitments from four Finnish pension funds. Based on the experiences from FoF Growth I, we can estimate that the total capital of the portfolio funds can reach €1 billion.

In 2013, the number of successful buyout exits increased compared to the previous year. There were still few successful venture exits. FII's capital calls totalled €83 million, and capital returning from the market was €64 million. High-risk projects in direct investments resulted in write-downs. The result for the financial year was € -7.6 million.

The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy published an external evaluation on FII's operations in January. One of the recommendations was to strengthen FII's international activities. We believe that this is very important for the development of the Finnish risk capital market. The evaluation applauded the professionalism of FII's operations and noted that its operations are cost-effective also by international standards. A big thank you for this goes to the company’s personnel for their high-quality and persistent work.

Juha Marjosola

President & CEO