About

The legal department of Solör Bioenergi Holding, a bio-energy provider, has made a significant mark on the company’s operation despite only recently being created. Formed along with the joining of chief legal officer Daniel Jilkén in mid-2015, Solör Bioenergi’s legal group has made major improvements to the company’s financial reporting to auditors and regulatory bodies, with new streamlined processes now in effect. The department has also decreased group-wide borrowing costs through a comprehensive restructuring of the legal security package available to lenders. Solör Bioenergi’s legal team has achieved major success in a dispute with the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority, after it ruled that the group’s bonds should be delisted from the national exchange. Solör Bioenergi’s legal team successfully appealed this decision and, in a case that was the first time that the Norwegian Ministry of Finance has overruled a Financial Supervisory Authority decision, the bonds continue to be traded. The benefit of the successful conclusion to this matter is potentially huge for the company, as is much of the legal team’s work. Indeed, it has been estimated that the team’s cost savings amount to at least SEK 200m over the past year. As Jilkén points out, while these cost savings are easily measured, the team’s ‘influence on value-building business decisions’ is less so, and it is perhaps here where they can have the greatest long-term positive effect. As the Nordic energy market moves away from conventional fossil-fuelled power production and a higher overall price for energy, legal team should have ample opportunity to provide the benefit of their expertise to business operations.