(Up-dated April 2004)

Fortum is the main Finnish energy company. It was created in 1998 from the merger of Finnish national electricity company, Imatran Voima Oy (IVO) with the national oil company, Neste. It is still 60.8% owned by the Finnish government although there are plans, approved by Parliament to sell shares so that the government holding goes down to 50.1%. In 2003, it decided to demerge its oil and gas business, selling shares in 2004 so that Fortum and the government of Finland owns at least 50.1% of the shares.
It is the second largest power company in the Nordic region and, apart from its operations in Finland, it has significant electricity holdings in Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Estonia and the UK. Many of its foreign activities are operating power plants and combined heat and power plants (eg Hungary, Estonia, Malaysia and Thailand)