Virala in brief

Virala Group is a traditional family-owned industrial company founded in 1977 in Finland. Virala Oy Ab is the parent company of Virala Group, and it has operating subsidiaries in Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The independent subsidiary Nidoco AB operates in Sweden.

For more than 20 years, Virala Group has built a decentralized, family-owned industrial group focused on strategic ownership that will endure, grow, and develop from one generation to the next. Virala Group’s strategy is to produce long-term value for its ownerships in good co-operation with other owners.

In addition to an actively managed global investment strategy, including private equity and venture capital, Virala Group consists of private and publicly traded family-controlled companies in which the Virala Group has a strategically significant ownership. These include Fiskars Corporation, Ahlstrom Oyj, Munksjö Paper Holding AB, YIT Corporation, and Purmo Group Oyj.

Responsibility and values

Virala is an active owner who influences the Group’s holdings through its work and the work of the Boards of Directors and committees to guide companies towards clear sustainability goals.

In its own operations, Virala has long been committed to conducting business responsibly. At the heart of Virala are the values that have been preserved from one generation to the next: reliability, integrity, commitment, respect, and agility.

Virala supports all seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Of these commitments, Virala has defined four targets that it can make the most impact through its investment activities.

Impact

In 2022, Virala started measuring the business impact of its investments. The measurement showed that Virala’s strategic holdings performed well. Virala’s listed associated companies, as well as the companies Ahlstrom Corporation and Munksjö Paper Holding AB, which Virala classifies as strategic holdings and over which Virala has influence, were measured.

A comparison with the companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange reveals that, on average, Virala’s strategic investments use fewer resources and generate the same amount of positive impact with the resources used. The net impact ratio of Virala’s strategic investments is +19% compared to -23% for the companies on the main list of the Helsinki Stock Exchange.