Throughout 2002 Mannheimer Swartling kept its role as one of corporate Sweden's favourite law firms against some stiff competition. As Swedish counsel to Ericsson on its SKr30 billion ($3.5 billion) rights issue, the largest deal of its kind in the Nordic region, Mannheimer guided Sweden's mobile telephone maker through a difficult transaction that lasted several months and involved several complicated agreements with underwriters.
The firm was also Telia's Swedish counsel for the company's €9.9 billion takeover of Finnish rival Sonera, advising among other things on the conversion of Finnish warrants into similar Swedish securities. Elsewhere Mannheimer advised on Alfa Laval's controversial $508 million initial public offering and helped communications company Utfors complete one of the few successful restructuring deals in Sweden.