Bird & Bird advises Terra Firma on the sale of Parmaco

Bird & Bird has assisted Terra Firma with the sale of Parmaco to Partners Group

A Nordic Bird & Bird team has assisted a consortium led by Terra Firma and Metric Capital, two of Europe’s leading private equity firms, with the sale of Parmaco, a provider of high quality, flexible modular education buildings, to global private markets firm Partners Group (acting on behalf of its clients).

With a portfolio of 353 buildings and around 180 employees, Parmaco designs, builds and leases high-quality modular school and child day-care buildings to municipality customers across Finland, and also has a growing presence in Sweden.

Bird & Bird assisted Terra Firma when Parmaco was acquired from Finnish private equity fund MB Funds in 2018 through Terra Firma Special Opportunities Fund IV, in partnership with Metric Capital, the pan-European private capital manager, and Sun Hung Kai & Co Limited, a leading investment firm headquartered in Hong Kong.

Since 2018, over €200 million has been invested into Parmaco, which now provides educational space to 35,000 children in over 80 municipalities across Finland and Sweden. The portfolio has grown by around 50% and now totals over 280,000 sqm of rentable space. Parmaco's modular buildings also offer strong ESG characteristics, with a greenhouse gas footprint that is on average 54% lower than traditional concrete-frame schools over the whole building lifecycle.

The Nordic Bird & Bird team included partner Mårten Willamo and counsel Mika Puurunen working together with Matti Kuokkanen, Johanna Rein, Katri Karén (all Corporate), William Schofield (Finance), Emmi Nuutila, Joanna Puhto (both Real Estate), Ilkka Toikkanen (Commercial), Riikka Pulju (Employment), Päivi Tammilehto (EU & Competition, all Helsinki), Elisabeth Zhou, Ahmed Al-Rahma (both Corporate), Amanda Lannge (Real Estate) and Karin Tukiainen (Employment, all Stockholm).

The Bird & Bird team worked together with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, also representing Terra Firma.

The transaction is subject to merger control approval from the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority.