JHL (27.05.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) State owned road and railway construction-cum-maintenance company Destia, has been sold to a private investor. The price for all shares in the company was 148 million euro and the buyer is Ahlström Capital, a Finnish private equity investment company.
JHL Chief Executive Officer Päivi Niemi-Laine sees the timing as bad and the price as far too low. "It makes no sense to sell off a profit making company in times of economic difficulties and especially not at such a ridiculously low price", she says.
She is astonished by the Government’s statement that the company is of no strategic value to the state.
"With state ownership it has been possible to keep the construction and maintenance price level as low as possible. State ownership of Destia has contributed to the overall financial benefit of the state. The reasons for state ownership have not diminished in any way, shape or form."
Ahlström Capital says that the transaction will have no immediate effect on the workforce. "The terms of work must be kept at existing levels", Niemi-Laine says. "We do expect that a domestic owner will keep the promises they have made."
JHL has vehemently opposed the privatisation of Destia. Perhaps the only redeeming feature of the sell-off of Destia is that it was sold to a single domestic owner in its entirety. Ahlström, as a company, has a long tradition of investing in Finnish industry.
Destia currently employs 1,400 people and it has been making a profit for the three last years. Some 650 of Destia employees are JHL members.
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