The State’s business activities
The State also undertakes business activities. After the declaration of independence, several state-owned enterprises were established, such as W. Gutzeit, and the state sulphuric acid and phosphate plants, Outokumpu Oy and Imatran Voima. State-owned enterprises were set up particularly in strategically and capital-intensive energy and industry sectors in which private financing was difficult to obtain. The last major state-owned companies were established in 1948 and 1960, respectively, when Neste Oy took over oil imports and Rautaruukki started to produce steel for the Finnish steel and shipbuilding industries.
From the 1980s onwards, state-owned enterprises were incorporated, and were managed like private enterprises based on normal business practices. The national railways, VR, became the VR Group and Post and Telecommunication changed its name to the Itella Group.
The state still owns several companies, either fully or partially. In 2022, the state owned shares in 70 major companies. The State of Finland was the majority owner in 19 companies, the most significant of which are Finnair and Fortum. In addition, the state owned shares in 16 major publicly traded companies. The state also owns a number of companies with special tasks of important national significance, such as the Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Climate Fund and the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
It is difficult to put an exact monetary value on the State’s assets. According to an estimate presented in the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on 8 March 2014, the total State assets (including shares, land, roads, buildings, infrastructure and bonds) totalled 83 billion euro.