Domestic investor group buys Talgo's Finnish railway wagon plant

Lay-off warning to be cancelled, more workers will be hired

print this

The mood is upbeat in the Talgo Oy headquarters, situated in the northern technology park of Oulu Technopolis. The capital stock of the Finnish arm of the international Talgo Group, hitherto under Spanish ownership, has just been sold from Spain back to Finland. Talgo Oy is a supplier of rolling stock for extreme climatic conditions and exacting customer needs.
      The name of the railway wagon factory will be changed back to Transtech Oy. The firm's new Finnish owners are Ilkka Brotherus, 55, Curt Lindbom, 64, Veli-Matti Mynttinen, 52, and Harri Launonen, 58, together with the company's present executive management.
      At a press conference, the newly regrouped company's Board Chairman Curt Lindbom delivered a message seldom heard these days: "Product manufacturing in Finland is profitable."
      Lindbom went on to list a bunch of Finnish brands and firms, such as Solifer and Finnair, the stock of which the four investors have accumulated.
      "Globalisation is a fact, but we are tired of hearing any more news of jobs being shifted from Finland to China. We aim to act as a counterforce", adds Brotherus, who still believes in the profitability of Finnish entrepreneurship.
     
In January, Talgo Oy reported that the company would have to introduce lay-offs or shed permanently part of its 420-strong workforce, if the company did not get new orders quickly.
      "The lay-off warning will be cancelled and we will start working hard, as we believe in an upswing in railroad traffic, especially in Russia, which is a stone's throw away from Otanmäki", Lindbom says. The village of Otanmäki is where the firm's production facility is situated.
      "In the near future we will officially announce a new rolling stock manufacturing deal, as a result of which we will have to hire 10-20 new workers", explains Markku Blomberg, who will continue as the company's CEO.
     
During the seven years that the factory was owned by Patentes Talgo S.A. of Spain, the faith of the Spanish owners in their Otanmäki unit gradually faded.
      "We heard that a consultant had been commissioned to sell the railway wagon factory. We quickly decided to put in an offer, as the Otanmäki facility benefits from a modern machine shop and competent staff", Mynttinen explains.
      Patentes Talgo CEO José Mario Oriol refrains from revealing the exact cost of the buyout. "We received less than what we have invested in Otanmäki."
     
Last summer, Talgo management expressed their disappointment at the Swiss manufacturer Stadler's having won the bidding contest for providing the Finnish capital area with new commuter trains.
      "In the future we will concentrate on the commuter train and fast bullet train market in central Europe. In Finland there is not enough demand in sight", Oriol reasons.
      According to Lindbom, in rolling stock manufacturing, just like in engineering in general, quick profits cannot be expected. The Finnish investors promise to commit themselves to Otanmäki for years. This is great news for the north-eastern province of Kainuu, which is plagued with a poor employment situation.
      The Finnish investors acquired the entire stock of Talgo Oy from its previous owner Patentes Talgo S.A, which is jointly owned by the Spanish Oriol family and the investment bank Lehman Brothers.


Links:
  Talgo Group
  Talgo Finland
  Talgo Transtech Oy

Helsingin Sanomat