Spinnova's CEO will change

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 03/13/2025 at 07:42 am EET

Spinnova announced yesterday that the company’s CEO Tuomas Oijala has announced his resignation. Tuomas Oijala will continue in his position during the 6 months' notice period, leading, for example, the ongoing strategy work. Oijala will leave Spinnova at the latest on September 12, 2025. Spinnova’s Board of Directors immediately initiates a process to find a successor.

Spinnova will have to update its strategy after Suzano decided to withdraw from its previously planned investments in Spinnova fiber production (our previous company update on Spinnova can be found here). Therefore, there is significant uncertainty related to the company's future direction, and we do not find it particularly surprising that the person in question is considering their options. 

For Spinnova, the change is naturally not optimal, as the company will at least have to start the critical strategy process without a permanent CEO. The strategy work must also be completed within a fairly short time frame in the coming months (in our estimation before the summer). We expect, however, that the company can move the process forward reasonably well led by Oijala, Chairman of the Board and former CEO Janne Poranen, Ben Selby, who previously served as interim CEO, and the Board. We also wouldn’t be surprised if Spinnova ended up recruiting a new permanent CEO from within the company fairly quickly.