We are acting as the legal advisor to S Group in its acquisition of the Stockmann Delicatessen business in Finland. In the planned transaction, the Delicatessen stores in the centre of Helsinki, Tapiola and in the Itis and Jumbo shopping centres will be transferred to HOK-Elanto. The Delicatessen store in Turku will be transferred to the Turku Regional Cooperative, and the store in Tampere to the Tampere Regional Cooperative. The Stockmann Delicatessen chain operations will be transferred to SOK and the Stockmann Delicatessen kitchen, which prepares Stockmann Meals foods, will be transferred to Meira Nova, a subsidiary of SOK.

The debt-free transaction price is EUR 27 million. The transaction is pending the approval of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority. The goal is to get the approval at latest by the end of 2017, in which case the transaction could be executed on 31 December 2017.

S Group is a Finnish network of companies operating in the retail and service sectors. It has more than 1,600 outlets in Finland. S Group comprises the cooperatives and SOK Corporation along with its subsidiaries. In 2016, the S Group's retail sales totalled EUR 11 billion and S Group's operating result stood at EUR 290 million. S group had around 40 000 employees in 2016.

Stockmann, established in 1862, is a Finnish listed company engaged in the retail trade. It has about 8,000 employees. The Group's revenue in 2016 was EUR 1,303.2 million. Stockmann Delicatessen’s revenue in Finland, excluding the Oulu store, was EUR 127 million in 2016, with an operating loss of EUR 11 million. The stores represented 25% of Stockmann Retail’s merchandise sales and 12% of the Stockmann Group’s merchandise sales in 2016. Stockmann Delicatessen has around 800 employees in Finland.