The doors of the Wild West Saloon have swung open at Himos: Elo helped fund the new entertainment center

Tourists at Himos gained many new recreational possibilities when a new entertainment center opened at the end of December 2023. The Wild West entertainment center offers visitors the chance to enjoy bowling, padel, pool, darts, a gym, golf and rally simulators as well as a unique restaurant. And it’s all dressed up in true Western style.

The engine behind the Wild West building project was HimosLomat Group. The company is responsible for running the majority of the sport and restaurant activities. Financing for the total investment of approximately 7.5 million euro was provided by Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Fennia Mutual Insurance Company and a local bank.

According to Hannu Haljala, Chairman of the Board for HimosLomat, the aim of the investment was to ensure that customers stay and enjoy themselves longer at Himos Ski Resort. This is surely possible as long as visitors have enough to keep them busy.

‘Our intention is to continuously develop tourism at Himos. The core of our activities, however, remains accommodation rentals. We market, book and maintain cottages on behalf of other owners. By offering an abundance of year-round activities, we will succeed in drawing people in’, he explains.

Over the decades, Himos has grown from a small ski resort to a large tourist oasis. Last year, around 180,000 skiers hit the slopes at Himos and approximately 330,000 stayed overnight in the area’s many accommodation facilities. Of those, more than 90 per cent were Finnish tourists. HimosLomat alone serves as the broker for more than 500 holiday rentals.

Strong confidence between the enterprise and financiers

Himos’ growth figures are largely due to the HimosLomat Group, owned by Hannu Haljala and his brother, Harri. The brothers are involved in nearly all activities except for the business related to the ski slopes.

The Group includes, among others, Himos Hotel, Himos Areena conference center, Himos Center central booking service, restaurants, safari activities, a golf course and other properties. The combined turnover of the Group is approximately 45 million euro.

‘We began doing calculations for the Wild West entertainment center already during the COVID-19 era, but we didn’t take real action to investigate the venture until autumn 2022. At that time, we also conducted market research and made plans for the financing. When we met with Elo for other reasons, I took that opportunity to ask them whether they might be able to offer funding for our project. After that, we sat down together and began to negotiate. Our meeting included insurance company representatives from both Elo and Fennia. A local bank also joined the project later on’, Haljala recalls.

He states that the negotiations about the financing package went smoothly. The strong confidence of all parties was reflected in the fact that the Wild West construction phase got underway already a few months before the financing agreement was officially signed. In the end, the construction of the 3,100 square metre-building was completed two months ahead of schedule.‘Both insurance companies carefully considered whether it was feasible for them to provide financial support for the project. We had a long common history with both Elo and Fennia, which undoubtedly had an impact on their positive decisions. They had confidence in what we were doing’, Haljala says.

Tourists can immerse themselves in true Western atmosphere at the Wild West entertainment center. Hannu Haljala envisions the new center serving a wide range of visitors.

Elo endeavours to contribute to company growth

Pekka Kiili, Finance Manager at Elo Mutual Pension insurance Company, characterises the financial negotiations for the HimosLomat investment as thorough and efficient. Over a six-month period, the parties reviewed, among other aspects, real estate documents, calculations and the terms and conditions of the project financing. One of the conditions concerned the amount of internal financing.

‘The negotiations took some time, since the project involved three separate financiers. All parties worked collaboratively and we quickly reached a solution on how to put the financing package together’, Kiili recalls.

Elo provides companies with opportunities for loan funding to support their growth. Elo is also actively involved in corporate acquisitions.

‘The bank generally serves as the primary financier for projects and so we provide supplementary financing. Sometimes, we’re the only financier, but generally speaking, we prefer to do this collaboratively with others’, says Kiili.

‘We offer financing against collateral owned by the borrower, i.e. the company, and we also use Finnvera’s guarantees as partial collateral. Our financing solutions are always based on a careful assessment of our customer company’s financial status, which includes, among other aspects, the company’s profitability and cash flow forecasts. The balance sheet should be strong, since over-indebtedness isn’t in anyone’s interest’, he states.

Elo has an extensive partnership network: Finnvera, non-life insurance companies, banks and other financial providers. The SME and growth loans granted by Elo are meant for companies with a turnover of more than two million euro that are looking for long-term financing. The amounts of these loans are, on average, hundreds of thousands of euro and the repayment period is 3–7 years.

For smaller businesses, Elo can offer a premium loan. A premium loan means that part of the pension insurance contributions paid by the company are annually transferred to a fund and the TyEL policyholder has the right to borrow from the accrued fund assets, provided that they meet the relevant terms and conditions.

Elo actively markets its financing products through multiple different channels. And it shows in the number of loan applications, which are on the rise according to Kiili.

Long-standing co-operation between Elo and Fennia

Elo and Fennia Mutual Insurance Company have years of experience in financing co-operation with one another. Like Elo, Fennia grants long-term financing for investments, working capital needs and corporate acquisitions. The average size of corporate loans is in the hundreds of thousands of euro.

Additionally, Fennia offers its customers guarantee insurance that is particularly useful for the construction and industry sectors. The insurance serves a guarantee, or a commitment for a contracting party to fulfil its obligations.

‘We grant supplementary financing to companies and assess their repayment capacity in accordance with specific indicators. Ratings play a key role in the process. We receive hundreds of inquiries annually. They are divided evenly between corporate loans and guarantee insurance’, explains Toni Saarenvirta, Finance Manager at Fennia.

Elo and Fennia have provided equal shares of financing for the Wild West investment.

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