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Business Finland — Finland's state-owned innovation and investment-promotion agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (TEM) — issued the €115.4M aid decision on 10 July 2025 under Finland's clean transition aid scheme for industrial investments, which was notified to and cleared by the European Commission under the EU Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF) aligned with the Net-Zero Industry Act. The aid represents approximately 14.4% of the stated €800M total project investment, within TCTF-permissible state-aid intensity ceilings.
The beneficiary, Easpring Finland New Materials Oy, was incorporated in March 2024 as a joint venture:
SZSE: 300073.SZ) — a leading Chinese cathode active material producer supplying major battery OEMs
for strategic battery-mineral and battery-value-chain investments under TEM ownership steering
The factory is sited in the Keltakallio industrial area, Kotka (Kymenlaakso region), at an existing Easpring-Finnish Minerals Group site adjacent to Kotka deep-water harbour facilitating raw material logistics. Legally binding environmental permit was received December 2024; construction permit for first buildings in February 2025; ground works commenced April 2025.
This is the register's first offensive critical-minerals-subsidy or battery-value-chain investment filing for Finland (prior FI actions captured only FDI screening legislation and mining tax). The filing closes the FI filing-class gap while also documenting a structurally distinctive deal: a Chinese-majority JV receiving EU TCTF state aid — one of the few cases globally where a PRC-controlled entity is simultaneously the aid recipient and the source of the technology, with a Western state entity as the minority check.
The TCTF clearance creates a precedent question for European FDI-screening review. Finland's Foreign Business Acquisitions Act (Act 172/2012, amended 2020) covers M&A of existing Finnish entities but the Easpring JV is a greenfield establishment, not an acquisition of a Finnish company, meaning the FDI screening machinery did not apply at formation. The Finnish Minerals Group 30% stake was the policy instrument used to maintain state visibility into operations.
on Chinese cathode supply chains; however, 70% of the entity's equity and the production know-how remain Chinese-controlled, so the supply-chain-diversification benefit is limited unless Finnish Minerals Group exercises meaningful operational governance.
Easpring-Finland deal as precedent for TCTF eligibility. The European Commission's clearance decision is the binding precedent; its specific conditions are not publicly detailed in available sources.
supplier feeding EU battery cell manufacturers (Northvolt supply-chain adjacency, Verkor, AESC UK).
technology-transfer conditions not publicly disclosed.
(lithium-iron-phosphate); Easpring's core product line is NMC but publicly available sources do not confirm the Kotka chemistry.
filing) — interaction with the Easpring concession structure if passed.