A hundred years of construction
Asfaltti Osakeyhtiö Lemminkäinen was founded in Helsinki in 1910 by a group of entrepreneurial master builders as a specialist business and subcontractor. At first the company's operations were limited to waterproofing and bituminous yard and street works.
Read about the company’s birth phase ››
Soon the company started to manufacture concrete products such as staircases, too.
Read about the history of this business ››
The business expanded with Finland’s independence from Russia in 1916. In 1920 Lemminkäinen opened its own roofing felt factory, and in the 1930s the company’s research and development work focused on asphalt production. Lemminkäinen started to produce hot-mix asphalt and carried out its first road paving contracts. After the Second World War, Lemminkäinen gradually assumed leadership of the Finnish asphalt paving market through organic growth and a number of significant acquisitions.
More information on roofing felt production ››
Read about the history of the company’s asphalt production ››
Lemminkäinen’s new roofing felt factory was completed at Lohja in the 1950s, and the production of concrete products was transferred from Helsinki to Tuusula in the 1960s. The company also branched out into civil engineering works and painting contracting.
Expanding horizons
Lemminkäinen’s strong growth began in the 1970s. The relatively modest “tar firm” was being transformed into a diversified international construction company. The company's construction project exports were initially targeted at the former Soviet Union and Africa. In 1975 Lemminkäinen acquired a majority interest in Oy Alfred Palmberg Ab, which became the hub of Lemminkäinen's building construction operations.
The technical building services company Tekmanni was acquired in the year 2000.
More information on Tekmanni’s business can be found on the company’s website ››
In 1989 Lemminkäinen's shares were listed for the first time on OMX Helsinki Exchange's OTC List, eventually being transferred to the Exchange’s Official List in 1995.
Lemminkäinen Group was reorganised into four business sectors on 1.1.2008. The business sectors are building construction, infrastructure construction, technical building services, and building products. The new companies formed for the building construction and infrastructure construction building sectors are Lemminkäinen Talo Oy and Lemminkäinen Infra Oy.
Read about the structure of the Group (Lemminkäinen Corporation's web site) ››
A detailed account of Lemminkäinen’s history is given in the book:
Lemminkäinen 1910-1985 (Jyväskylä 1985), written by Pentti Poukka