---
title: "Private Equity Investors | Marko Junkkari | Neuvottelija 420"
titleOriginal: "Pääomasijoittajat | Marko Junkkari | Neuvottelija 420"
episodeNumber: "420"
guest: "Marko Junkkari"
datePublished: 2026-11-06
duration: "1:20:52"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0"
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["investing_markets","ownership_capital_tax","finnish_economy_policy"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page assembled from YouTube metadata, the publisher's own description and chapter marks, translated one for one, and checked against the publisher's own Finnish caption track. The captions carry no speaker labels, so speakers were inferred from the conversation; quotations are translated for sense, not verbatim. No English caption track exists, so no transcript is published here. The book's details and Intera Fund V were checked against the publisher and dated news; the speakers' other figures (DevCo multiples, pension allocations, Oura's Finnish ownership, MB Funds' new fund) were not checked and are flagged in the AI articles."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/867-paaomasijoittajat-marko-junkkari-neuvottelija-420/"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep420-paaomasijoittajat-marko-junkkari/
---
# Private Equity Investors | Marko Junkkari | Neuvottelija 420

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=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=0s) Opening montage: exits, continuation funds and pension insurers
- [01:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=85s) Marko Junkkari as a guest for the third time
- [02:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=132s) Kurt Björklund, Finland's most successful private equity investor
- [03:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=199s) Mega-funds versus small Finnish funds
- [04:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=243s) London's mega-funds and KKR's pre-interview
- [05:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=354s) Björklund's motorway analogy of the industry's cycles
- [07:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=437s) Zero rates ended and exits dried up
- [09:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=586s) Department stores, continuation funds and debt on debt
- [11:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=668s) Basic terms: GP, LP and the fund life cycle
- [14:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=848s) US scale and the disappearance of listed companies
- [15:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=912s) Why private equity has beaten the stock market
- [16:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1002s) Bridgepoint, A-Katsastus and Finland's buyout gap
- [18:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1129s) The industry's history in Finland and EQT's rise
- [21:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1292s) Sami's regret: the Nordic Capital job
- [22:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1362s) Fee model, hurdle rate and carried interest
- [24:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1486s) Ari Tolppanen and the book's scope
- [27:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1640s) The private equity investor's entrepreneurial risk and zombie funds
- [29:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1796s) Buyout fund returns and Sponsor's first fund
- [32:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=1963s) Intera's rise to a 450-million fund
- [34:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2048s) Bocap and Taaleri's deal-by-deal funds
- [35:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2127s) DevCo Partners and single-asset funds
- [38:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2321s) Vexve and the ball-valve success story
- [40:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2428s) Eqvitec's wind-down and the pension insurers' disappointment
- [41:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2510s) Venture, growth and buyout distinguished
- [42:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2557s) The dot-com crash killed the first venture generation
- [45:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2733s) Timo Ahopelto, CRF Health and the birth of Lifeline
- [47:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=2847s) The second generation, Slush and the startup miracle
- [50:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=3002s) MB Funds and Kotkamills' board machine
- [52:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=3164s) CapMan's buyout series broken by the financial crisis
- [54:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=3272s) CapMan in real estate, infrastructure and salmon transport
- [57:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=3474s) Pia Santavirta and Tesi's strategy battle
- [1:01:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=3664s) Tesi's fund investments and direct investments
- [1:04:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=3891s) The scale-up funding gap and the Finland Club
- [1:08:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=4111s) Pension billions to US funds and the size of Finnish funds
- [1:12:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=4349s) The Swedish model and individual choice as a solution
- [1:15:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=4528s) Sami's book review and editorial freedom in commissioned work
- [1:18:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=4728s) Next, an investment banking book?
- [1:19:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0&t=4792s) US midterms in the Inner Circle

## Summary

**Who he is.** [Marko Junkkari](https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/guests/marko-junkkari/) is a Helsingin Sanomat journalist and nonfiction author, on Neuvottelija for the third time. His book *Pääomasijoittajat* (Otava, 8 October 2026) is based on about 60 interviews, from Permira's Kurt Björklund and KKR's European leadership to Finnish buyout houses, venture investors and the state investor Tesi.

**Disclosures.** According to Junkkari the book is commissioned work: the investment company of Intera Partners founder Tuomas Lang paid a fee, and other private equity firms and the Finnish Venture Capital Association committed to buying copies; he says he had a free hand. Sami Miettinen is an investment banker, an LP investor in private equity funds and a member of the association's communications working group. Not investment advice.

**Why the industry is braking.** Björklund's motorway analogy: when someone brakes hard, the whole queue slows. The end of zero rates left funds holding companies bought at high valuations, exits and distributions to LPs dried up, and LPs stopped committing to new funds. The largest firms do well; many mid-sized ones struggle. Continuation funds, in which a manager sells a company to itself, and slowly withering "zombie" funds are two symptoms of the same jam.

**How a fund works.** A limited partnership in which the GP calls committed capital as targets are found, holds companies for 3–7 years within a 10+2-year fund life, charges about 2% a year and takes 20% carry above a 6–8% hurdle. Control and leverage explain why private equity has historically beaten the stock market.

**Finnish returns in public.** Sponsor Capital agreed to publish its fund returns, and Intera and Vaaka followed; MB Funds declined. Intera closed a €450 million fund, the largest Finnish buyout fund, in the week of recording. DevCo Partners' reported 6–7x multiples remain unverified claims.

**Pension billions.** Miettinen criticises Finnish pension insurers for putting tens of billions into American mega-funds and proposes the Swedish model in which individuals direct part of their contribution. Junkkari answers that Finnish exposure is already large on the listed side and that Finnish funds are too small for billion-a-year allocators. The dispute stays open. The conversation continues in the members' episode Neuvottelija Sisäpiiri 170 on the US midterms.

## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Pääomasijoittajat | Marko Junkkari | Neuvottelija 420](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXDB3NwvM0).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/867-paaomasijoittajat-marko-junkkari-neuvottelija-420/).

## In depth

The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form, fact-checked write-up of this episode:
[English](https://www.neuvottelija.com/ai/ep420-paaomasijoittajat-marko-junkkari/) · [suomeksi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/economy/ep420-paaomasijoittajat-marko-junkkari/).

## Explore the ideas in depth

- [Private equity in Finland: active ownership, growth and AI-assisted investor relations](https://www.neuvottelija.com/guides/private-equity-finland-active-ownership-and-ai/): A practical guide to venture capital, growth and buyouts, ownership economics, risks and investor communication — with Pia Santavirta’s Neuvottelija 94 interview, Marko Junkkari’s book Pääomasijoittajat (Neuvottelija 420) and Sami Miettinen’s March 2026 FVCA workshop.

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Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — Private Equity Investors | Marko Junkkari | Neuvottelija 420, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep420-paaomasijoittajat-marko-junkkari/, 2026-11-06. For quotes include episode 420 and timestamp.