Director of IR at award-winning Valmet set to leave firm

Calle Loikkanen, director of investor relations at Valmet and one of five nominees for the rising star gong at this year’s IR Magazine Awards – Europe, is set to step down from his role and leave the company on August 31, the company has announced.

He will join food and drinks packaging firm Huhtamaki. Recruitment for Loikkanen’s replacement will begin at ‘the soonest’, according to a statement from Valmet. 

Valmet is a past IR Magazine Award winner, taking home the trophy for best use of multimedia in 2017 – a category it is short-listed for again this year. The company is nominated for three other trophies at this year’s IR Magazine Awards – Europe, with a nod for best investor event (small to mid-cap), best IR website (mid-cap) and the rising star category. 

Loikkanen, who held previous roles at Aktia Asset Management and Aktia Pankki, joined Valmet in 2013 and was appointed to lead the company’s IR efforts in 2016. ‘Calle has successfully led Valmet’s investor relations work since 2016,’ says Kari Saarinen, CFO at Valmet, in a statement announcing Loikkanen’s departure. ‘Under his leadership our investor relations work has strengthened further and received many domestic and international acknowledgments.’

Loikkanen will join Huhtamaki as head of IR and financial communications, taking over from Katariina Hietaranta, on August 26. Hietaranta will assume the role of head of external communications with a focus on media relations and sustainability communications, according to the firm.  

‘With his experience in banking and equity markets, and in setting up and subsequently running Valmet’s investor relations function, Calle has excellent capabilities to develop Huhtamaki’s investor relations to the next level,’ says Leena Lie, Huhtamaki senior vice president of marketing and communications, in a statement welcoming him to the Espoo, Finland-headquartered company.