Jolla’s businesses finally got rid of their Russian owners - "An incredibly long battle of attrition"
Jolla, founded by former Nokia engineers, is seeking to rid itself of its Russian owners from the beginning of 2022. Now the business and staff will be transferred to the former management of the company under a restructuring procedure.
The business operations of technology company Jolla will be transferred to the new company in a business acquisition. The business and personnel will be transferred to the former management of the company in the restructuring process.
Jolla, which specialises in operating systems and automotive software, has sought to divest its Russian owners from the beginning of 2022.
The case was settled last week in court, when the Pirkanmaa District Court confirmed the restructuring plan, which obliges the company to sell its entire business to another company.
“I am very pleased that the Finnish restructuring procedure provided a solution to this impasse,” says Antti Saarnio, chairman of the board of the acquiring company and one of Jolla’s original founding shareholders.
Founded by former Nokia engineers, Jolla has been working with Russian investors and companies since 2016.
“Without this solution, the business could not have continued. In that ownership structure, the company had no conditions to raise capital to grow its business,” says Saarnio.
The long road out of Russian ownership
Saarnio describes the journey out of Russian ownership as “an incredibly long struggle of exhaustion”.
In Russia, Jolla licensed the Sailfish mobile operating system it had developed to Open Mobile Platform, a company founded by Russian businessman Grigory Berezkin. Rostelecom bought Open Mobile Platform and Berezkin’s stake in Jolla in 2018.
“Sometimes we almost ran out of faith. We negotiated for almost a year with the owners to buy out the company, but the negotiations did not progress,” says Saarnio.
“Personally, I don’t think I will ever again get involved in a financing package with Russian investors,” Saarnio says when asked what the events of the past year have taught him.
Saarnio says that Jolla’s turnover last year was almost €5 million, up 40% on the previous year. The company currently employs around 20 people.
According to the new company, the restructuring process resulted in a business transaction, as a result of which the new company will continue to develop and sell Sailfish OS to customers around the world. Jolla’s newest business as an automotive software supplier will be incorporated under its own subsidiary Seafarix, headed by former Jolla sales director Petteri Paasila.
“I have been with Jolla for almost five years. In the last three years we have grown our automotive business significantly. With the new ownership structure, we realised that it makes sense to concentrate the automotive business in our own company. This way we can better serve the needs of the industry,” says Paasila.
I know it is difficult.
