---
title: "IPOs, Mergers and Board Work | Petri Niemi | Negotiator 123"
titleOriginal: "Hallitustyö IPO & fuusio | Petri Niemi | Neuvottelija 123"
episodeNumber: "123"
guest: "Petri Niemi"
datePublished: 2022-02-27
duration: "48:34"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw"
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["ma_exits","saas_software","ownership_capital_tax"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page assembled from YouTube metadata, the neuvottelija.fi episode record and the publisher's own chapter marks, translated one for one. The marks are genuine: twenty-five of them, with gaps from 43 to over 200 seconds, tracking the recording rather than a grid. No transcript is published here — the channel has no English caption track for this episode and the Finnish one is YouTube's automatic track. The guest chairs or has chaired the boards of most of the listed companies he discusses by name, and the Bilot–Vincit merger was awaiting shareholder approval when this was recorded, so the episode discusses a live transaction from one side. Nothing in it is investment advice, and the company assessments are those of February 2022."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/159-hallitustyo-ipo-fuusio-petri-niemi-neuvottelija-123"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep123-ipot-fuusiot-ja-hallitustyo-petri-niemi/
---
# IPOs, Mergers and Board Work | Petri Niemi | Negotiator 123

English subtitles are not available on this page. This is an episode summary, not a curated transcript.

## Chapters

- [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=0s) Petri Niemi: from CapMan to free radical
- [02:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=142s) Siili Solutions opened the First North market
- [04:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=269s) A small offering and five acquisitions paid in shares
- [05:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=312s) Detection Technology and the Chinese factory
- [07:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=425s) Vincit, the listing, and the share as a way of committing people
- [08:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=508s) Bilot's IPO in the middle of the Covid crash
- [10:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=634s) The anchor investors saved the offering
- [12:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=773s) First North must not turn into crowdfunding
- [14:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=864s) What Bilot actually does around SAP
- [15:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=934s) Motley, and service design as the cherry on top
- [17:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1021s) The Bilot–Vincit merger by share exchange
- [19:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1152s) A share exchange against a cash offer
- [20:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1216s) Synergies: an agile house meets large corporates
- [23:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1386s) Next Games and IP-based games
- [24:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1448s) Lounea, Finland's fastest builder of fibre
- [27:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1627s) Reselling Visma, and business services
- [28:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1689s) Loihde's technical listing, and why it limps
- [29:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1775s) When it would be worth Lounea listing
- [31:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=1887s) Seven IPOs: when listing is the right path
- [33:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=2010s) LeadDesk, an orthodox SaaS company
- [34:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=2084s) Clausion and the move off the licence model, with its SaaS trough
- [36:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=2194s) The myth of a consultancy's little products
- [38:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=2334s) How a board is built before a listing
- [42:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=2564s) The chair runs the board, the chief executive runs the company
- [46:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw&t=2779s) ICEYE, the satellite company Niemi is proudest of

## Summary

Petri Niemi has run seven listings and chaired the boards of most of those companies. He opens up why Siili Solutions was the case that opened Finland's First North, how Bilot dared to list in March 2020 into the teeth of the Covid crash, and what an anchor investor's thumbs-up actually buys. The conversation moves on to the Bilot–Vincit merger, still awaiting shareholder approval at the time of recording, and to why listing is worth it at all: owners in different cycles, a liquid share as acquisition currency, easier banking. It closes on the most common trap in software consultancies — products built by consultants on the bench — the one rule of board work, and the company he is proudest of.

## What an anchor actually buys

Not the capital. The anchor investor's commitment is a signal to everyone deciding afterwards, and in Bilot's case — a listing that went out days into the Covid crash — that signal is what kept the offering alive. Niemi is clear that the money could have come from anywhere and the endorsement could not.

## The argument for listing that survives

Raising money is the reason usually given and the weakest one, since private capital is available. The durable arguments are a share that can be used to buy companies, an ownership base whose members are on different cycles, and a bank that treats a listed borrower differently.

## Products from the bench

The most common trap in software consultancy: consultants between assignments are put to building a product, which therefore gets the hours nobody is paying for and stops whenever billable work appears. It never ships, and the sector repeats it constantly.


## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Hallitustyö IPO & fuusio | Petri Niemi | Neuvottelija 123](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVTcbjJ-KKw).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/159-hallitustyo-ipo-fuusio-petri-niemi-neuvottelija-123).

## In depth

The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode:
[English](https://www.neuvottelija.com/ai/ep123-ipot-fuusiot-ja-hallitustyo-petri-niemi/) · [suomeksi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/economy/ep123-ipot-fuusiot-ja-hallitustyo-petri-niemi/).

## Explore the ideas in depth

- [Nordic SaaS Valuation & M&A: How AI Reprices Software Companies](https://www.neuvottelija.com/guides/nordic-saas-valuation-and-ma/): How software companies in the Nordics are valued and sold as AI moves inference into the cost of goods sold — where multiples stand in mid-2026, the metrics that get repriced, why vertical SaaS defends its premium, AI due diligence, and the shift from seats to outcomes. Grounded in Translink's SaaS valuation work and Neuvottelija conversations.
- [Enterprise AI Agents: Economics, Governance and the Shift From Tools to Workers](https://www.neuvottelija.com/guides/enterprise-ai-agents-economics-and-governance/): A guide to enterprise AI agents — the real cost model behind agent work, why owning your own stack is becoming a strategic question, a working governance framework with approval gates and audit trails, the agent risk matrix, the EU AI Act timeline as it stands, and who captures the productivity gains. Grounded in a real multi-agent lab, two 2026 keynotes, and Neuvottelija conversations.
- [How to Sell a Company in Finland: An M&A Banker's Guide to a Clean Exit](https://www.neuvottelija.com/guides/how-to-sell-a-company-in-finland/): A practical guide to selling a company in Finland and the Nordics — the process phase by phase, share deal vs asset deal, valuation, due diligence, buyer types, deal structures, taxes on the sale, minority squeeze-outs and the ownership context that shapes every exit. Grounded in Neuvottelija conversations and Translink M&A practice.

---

Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — IPOs, Mergers and Board Work | Petri Niemi | Negotiator 123, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep123-ipot-fuusiot-ja-hallitustyo-petri-niemi/, 2022-02-27. For quotes include episode 123 and timestamp.