04.02.2012 13:13
FINANCIAL ADVISORY SERVICES CONCERNING THE STATE’S CORPORATE SHAREHOLDINGS
ESTABLISHMENT OF AN OPEN REGISTER OF CONTRACTORS
The Government of Finland has shareholdings of significance in about fifty Finnish limited liability companies. Of these, twelve are publicly listed. The administration of State shareholdings in companies operating on market terms takes place at the Ownership Steering Department in the Prime Minister’s Office. The companies with special duties fall within the administrative sectors of different ministries.
The Government occasionally commissions the ministries to draw up ownership strategy surveys or other financial studies on these companies or to undertake measures that, in one way or another, change State shareholdings in one or more companies. The drafting of such surveys or preparation and implementation of such measures are, as a general rule, classified, as they involve business secrets of the State, the company concerned or possible other parties are dealt with in connection with them.
When carrying out these kinds of surveys and while preparing and implementing measures, the ministries use in most cases external advisers, primarily in financial and legal issues. The assignments of financial advisers in particular can be so extensive that the overall fees paid exceed the threshold values laid down in Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts.
To ensure that all advisers have an equal opportunity to offer their services, a joint contractor register of the Finnish ministries concerned in view of assignments classified as described above and exceeding the threshold values has been established. The register of contractors, which is maintained by the Ownership Steering Department in the Prime Minister’s Office is intended for all corporations, such as investment banks, domiciled in one of the EU Member States and professionally providing advisory services for strategic corporate planning or major corporate restructuring. In this connection, advisory services do not refer to auditing services.
The advisers willing to join the register are invited to send their contact information, together with a certificate by the registration authority of their home country and a compact description of the services provided and experience gained in their own sector, by letter, fax or e-mail to the Registry of the Prime Minister's Office (address PO Box 23, FI-00023 Government, fax +358 9 1602 2165, e-mail kirjaamo@vnk.fi) with a mention of the registry number 503/50/2007 and the following note: “Register of Contractors”.
The register of contractors will be continuously open, and information can be submitted any time. We require that advisers who have had their contact information entered into the register, but terminate their activity in question or whose activities undergo substantial changes, notify the Ownership Steering Department of this without delay.
The ministry concerned will perform, observing a classified procedure, the actual competitive bidding for the advisers in the case of each survey or measure and will select the participants from among the advisers who have entered their information into the register of contractors at least one month earlier.
