--- title: "The IPO Boom | Henrik Husman | Negotiator 88" titleOriginal: "Pörssin IPO-buumi | Henrk Husman | Neuvottelija 88" episodeNumber: "88" guest: "Henrik Husman" datePublished: 2021-07-02 duration: "42:10" youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA" originalLanguage: "fi" topics: ["investing_markets","ownership_capital_tax","ma_exits"] 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-one of them, with gaps from 60 to over 190 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 runs the exchange whose products the episode describes and has an obvious interest in companies listing on it; the host works in corporate finance and advises on such transactions. Nothing here is investment advice, and the listing wave, SPAC rules and valuation environment are those of mid-2021 — the Finnish SPAC experiment did not develop as the episode anticipated. The channel's title card spells the guest's name Henrk Husman; it is Henrik." fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/100-porssin-ipo-buumi-henrk-husman-neuvottelija-88" canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep88-porssin-ipo-buumi-henrik-husman/ --- # The IPO Boom | Henrik Husman | Negotiator 88 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=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=0s) A hundred leaving, 130 arriving, and the SPAC as a harness driver - [01:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=60s) Henrik Husman, and the third hot listing wave - [02:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=126s) Brady bought Nordic ID: the first First North takeover - [03:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=188s) What a First North listing demands of a company - [04:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=282s) The Certified Adviser, and moving to the main list - [07:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=450s) Why companies list: growth capital, a quality mark and recruitment - [09:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=550s) A SPAC: a company listed in order to make an acquisition, not a back door - [11:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=668s) The agency problem, the escrow account, and the investor's right to exit - [13:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=810s) A SPAC as an alternative to a private equity buyer for a target company - [15:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=916s) Private-equity-backed listings have beaten the index - [18:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1136s) Anchor investors, and Puuilo's thirty thousand investors - [20:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1228s) Institutions against retail investors, and allocation cuts - [22:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1336s) Ultra-fast trading, banks internalising flow, and market share - [25:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1529s) Discounts in directed offerings, and the value of handcraft - [27:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1627s) Why Sweden is Europe's champion in listings - [29:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1782s) The stick of dividend taxation keeps family companies off the exchange - [31:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1874s) First North's positive spiral, and balancing the risk level - [32:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=1964s) Green bonds, ESG reporting and the Green Equity Designation - [36:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=2193s) The Certified Adviser and the takeover code on First North - [38:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=2331s) A direct listing without an offering, and Spotify's example - [41:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA&t=2518s) Closing words ## Summary Nasdaq Helsinki's chief executive Henrik Husman opens up Finland's third listing wave in spring 2021. More than a hundred companies have left the Helsinki exchange since 2000, but around 130 have joined — the net change is positive, though without the arrivals the list would be short. The episode covers what a First North listing demands of a company, what a Certified Adviser adds, and what the SPAC structure then being trialled in Finland actually is: Husman stresses it is not a back door to the exchange, because the combined entity must meet the same listing criteria. Also discussed: the reversal in reputation of private-equity-backed listings, anchor investors and Puuilo's thirty thousand subscribers, retail allocation cuts, and high-frequency trading. Husman also names a Finnish deterrent — dividend taxation that keeps well-capitalised family companies off the exchange. ## The answer to the SPAC objection The standard complaint is that a SPAC lets a company onto the exchange without meeting the requirements. Husman's answer is procedural and correct: the combined entity has to clear the same criteria, so the listing standard is applied — just at a different moment. Whether that moment is late enough is a fair further question the episode does not press. ## A thin net positive A hundred out, 130 in, over two decades. The headline is that Helsinki has grown; the substance is how close the margin is, and how much of the current list exists because of the arrivals rather than in spite of the departures. ## The exchange names its own obstacle Dividend taxation keeps well-capitalised family companies private, and the person saying so is the chief executive of the exchange that would otherwise list them. Coming from him it is a more useful data point than the same claim from a lobbyist. ## Watch The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Pörssin IPO-buumi | Henrk Husman | Neuvottelija 88](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h5MJWlFOUA). A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/100-porssin-ipo-buumi-henrk-husman-neuvottelija-88). ## In depth The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode: [English](https://www.neuvottelija.com/ai/ep88-porssin-ipo-buumi-henrik-husman/) · [suomeksi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/economy/ep88-porssin-ipo-buumi-henrik-husman/). ## Explore the ideas in depth - [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. - [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. - [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 and Sami Miettinen’s March 2026 FVCA workshop. --- Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — The IPO Boom | Henrik Husman | Negotiator 88, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep88-porssin-ipo-buumi-henrik-husman/, 2021-07-02. For quotes include episode 88 and timestamp.