Students helped Transmeri Group define their potential M&A landscape

Finance students from the School of Business, Arttu Seppälä, Luukas Tuori, and Tapani Kunttu, conducted a comprehensive Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analysis for Transmeri Group. Their project focused on identifying industries and companies that could help the company achieve its growth target by 2028, while also aligning with its responsible business goals.

The project started by analyzing Transmeri Group thoroughly by looking at their portfolio companies, profitable business areas and the company’s strategy guidelines. After this, the project team researched the market and defined interesting industries which would align with Transmeri’s portfolio and strategic requirements. The students started screening a long list of companies using various data sources and analyzing the target landscape to create a compact short-list of companies looking at several perspectives, such as financial profile, geographical reach, product offering, and sustainability.

These tasks were followed by synergy analysis and mapping of potential risks and opportunities related to the target company profiles. The project team, executive team, and Transmeri Group's owners maintained ongoing discussions throughout the summer to ensure all parties were informed of the project's progress and that no promising targets were overlooked.

Valuable and actionable recommendations from the students

Luukas Tuori felt that the cooperation between the project team and the customer could not have gone better. ‘The project team and the customer were highly engaged throughout the process. It was rewarding to see that our analysis and deliverables were valued by the customer, which further motivated the team to strive for the best possible outcome.’

Arttu Seppälä noted the exceptional level of engagement from Transmeri Group. ‘I was particularly pleased to see the presence of the Group's CEO, the Chairman of the Board and a representative of the family of owners at the meetings, which demonstrated the company's strong interest in the project.’

‘From the start of the project, our team had the freedom to choose our direction, while continuous communication and feedback from the decision-makers at Transmeri Group allowed us to refine our approach. This combination of autonomy and guidance enabled us to achieve a successful final deliverable swiftly’, says Tapani Kunttu.

The CEO of Transmeri Group Kari Leimola said that the students delivered exceptional work, providing valuable and actionable insights. ‘We are highly satisfied with the project's outcome and plan to utilize this information moving forward. The progress achieved during this project was truly impressive.’

‘It was easy to give responsibility to the project team since they showed a professional solution-oriented attitude,’ says the academic supervisor of this business project, Professor of Practice Salla Pöyry. Furthermore, the management team and owners of Transmeri, who attended regular meetings during the summer holidays, demonstrated strong interest in this project and played a significant role in helping the team achieve their goals.