Snellman acted as counsel in two precedential cases determining the invalidity of intra-EU arbitral awards in Sweden. Both cases concerned the application of EU law principles expressed in the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Achmea judgment and the case law following the judgment.

Snellman successfully represented the Republic of Poland in the Swedish Supreme Court, where the arbitral awards were declared invalid on the basis of Section 33(2) of the Swedish Arbitration Act, i.e. for being incompatible with the basic principles of the Swedish legal system. The Swedish Supreme Court’s judgment followed the ECJ’s preliminary ruling in the case C-109/20 PL Holdings referred to the ECJ by the Swedish Supreme Court. The team before the Swedish Supreme Court and the ECJ consisted of Partner Anna-Maria Tamminen as well as other lawyers previously with Snellman.

“We have been very privileged to work on this case for the past five years, before the Svea Court of Appeal, Swedish Supreme Court and European Court of Justice. Although we expected this to be the outcome in the light of the Achmea judgment, it took a lot of work to get here.” says Anna-Maria Tamminen, Partner at Snellman.

We also successfully represented the Kingdom of Spain in the Svea Court of Appeal regarding an application to invalidate or set aside an intra-EU arbitral award under the Energy Charter Treaty. The Svea Court of Appeal found on the basis of Section 33(1) of the Swedish Arbitration Act that the award concerned questions which were not arbitrable and therefore declared the award invalid. The team consisted of Partners Pontus Ewerlöf and Martin Rifall as well as several members of the DR team.

“We are very honoured to have been entrusted to act as advisors to the Kingdom of Spain in this groundbreaking judgment which is also the first of its kind in Europe,” says Pontus Ewerlöf, Partner at Snellman.

Pontus Ewerlöf

Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 013

Martin Rifall

Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 012

Snellman acted as counsel to KLAR Partners in the acquisition of Sandbäckens, the Swedish provider of technical installation and service of Sprinkler, Heating & Sanitation solutions for buildings. The acquisition was made by funds advised by KLAR Partners, a European private equity company focused on investments in companies operating in the business services and light industrials. Sandbäckens is KLAR Partners’ first acquisition in Sweden.

Snellman’s core team included Claes Kjellberg, Miklos Kovacs Kal, Anna Bergström, Julia Wegelius, Ebba Almén and Emma Andersson (Private M&A), Fredrik Olsson, Aina Renström and Rezan Akkurt (Banking & Finance), Martin Rifall (Construction), Jenny Lundberg, and Josephine Lindgren (Employment).

Emma Andersson

Senior Associate | Stockholm

+46 760 000 090

Josephine Gjerstad Medina

Senior Associate | Stockholm

+46 760 000 074

Claes Kjellberg

Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 082

Miklos Kovacs Scherlin

Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 040

Jenny Lundberg

Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 041

Fredrik Olsson

Managing Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 006

Martin Rifall

Partner | Stockholm

+46 760 000 012