Pekka Koponen hands over the role of Kaidi Finland CEO to Carl Haglund

Carl Haglund, the Vice President of  Kaidi’s European strategy, has been appointed CEO of Kaidi Finland. Up to date, the acting CEO of Kaidi Finland has been Pekka Koponen, CEO and Founder of Spinverse. Koponen undertook the role of CEO of Kaidi Finland initially as part of Spinverse's task of building one-stop-shop Finnish operations for Kaidi Finland. Koponen continues his role as chief adviser in the Kemi biofuel refinery project as part of the cooperation between Kaidi Finland and Spinverse.

“Pekka Koponen and Spinverse were appointed to establish and form a subsidiary for Kaidi in Finland on a one-stop-shop basis. Now Kaidi Finland is ready to be moved on to the next phase. Finland and the Kemi biofuel refinery are a crucial part of Kaidi’s European investment strategy, so the role of CEO of Kaidi Finland was a natural addition to my current role. We are very pleased with Mr. Koponen’s work and the collaboration with him and Spinverse will continue as before”, Haglund says.

Kaidi plans to build a EUR 1 billion biofuel refinery in Kemi, Northern Finland. The refinery will produce advanced second generation biofuel, renewable diesel and gasoline using energy wood and residues as its primary feedstock. Spinverse has been the main consulting partner for Kaidi Finland since the beginning of the project.

"My role as the acting CEO of Kaidi Finland has been a most interesting and rewarding experience. The project in Kemi has gained a large number of supporters and it has proven the strength of the Finnish bioeconomy strategy by attracting foreign investments to Finland. During the past few months, the project has reached many major milestones, such as EU’s investment fund decision of almost 90 million euros. Now is the right moment to hand over the keys to Haglund and for me to concentrate on the advisory role" comments Pekka Koponen.