About

The legal department of aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro is described by a source within the team as consisting of ‘a very strong, multi-cultural team of highly skilled professionals. The Hydro corporate legal department has for decades been a well-regarded legal department (especially in Norway), and [is] a sought after place of employment, continuously recruiting from tier one law firms’. Headquartered in Oslo, the company had a 2017 revenue figure of almost NOK 110bn thanks to successful execution of operations that span aluminium and related products; hydropower and solar power technologies products. Reorganisation has been a key theme in the department’s recent history, and it is explained that a process was recently undertaken which saw the integration of two distinct legal departments from legacy Hydro and legacy Sapa into one Hydro corporate legal department. When identifying significant cases and transactions the team has recently been involved in, the team can point to ‘the acquisition of 50% of Sapa from Orkla. Integrating the Sapa organisation into Hydro (as a new business area, Extruded Solutions) and challenges in Brazil concerning Hydro’s Alunorte refinery (well documented by international – but in particular Norwegian and Brazilian press’. Giving some information afterwards about how the team’s culture developed, the source explains it is ‘one team of outstanding legal professionals continuously adding value to Hydro’, with the purpose of being ‘business accelerators by proactive, forward looking, business minded, legal advice and support’.