It looks as though the merger announced in September 2012 by the two Finnish piping systems specialists Uponor (Vantaa; www.uponor.com) and the KWH Group (Vasaa; www.kwhpipe.com) has gone from theory to reality as the two entities announced that the new merged business, Uponor Infra Oy officially opened it doors on 1 July.

The final hurdle to overcome involved approval from the Finnish Market Court and that came on 24 May. In a statement from Uponor, it said that the JV was subject to certain conditions, which were proposed by both companies, and the parties are now "working actively" to close these loops.

The board of directors at the JV has appointed Sebastian Bondestam as its first managing director. He has been a member of Uponor's executive company since 2007. Uponor has a 55.3% stake in the new company with the KWH Group owning the remaining 44.7%.

The new setup will be included in the January-September 2013 interim report for the first time and Uponor has said that it will publish pro forma data for the new infrastructure solutions segment prior to the announcement of the Q3 report.

With the JV now running, Uponor has issued a statement that its financial guidance for 2013, issued in February, is now void as of 1 July. The modest growth the company anticipated at the start of the year was based on the company's portfolio at the time and did not include the current organisational setup and business portfolio.