The story
The origins of YIT can be traced back to 1912, when Sweden's General Engineering Company (Swedish: Allmänna Ingeniörsbyrån) established a subsidiary in Finland, initially to operate in the water supply sector. The Finnish translation of the group's title, Yleinen Insinööritoimisto, is the source of the name YIT. The first project undertaken by the new company was the construction of a water tower in Porvoo. The firm's field of operation was gradually broadened over the following decades, but it was not until the 1970s that the company moved beyond the civil engineering sector into construction of buildings (including residential property) and industrial works.
In September 1987, Yleinen Insinööritoimisto merged with rival Finnish contractor Perusyhtymä Oy, creating YIT-Yhtymä (YIT Corporation). Since the merger, YIT's growth into new sectors has been aided by several acquisitions: in 1995, the piping design and maintenance specialist Oy Huber Ab was acquired, the same year that the company's shares were listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, and the Swedish pipeline installation and maintenance firm Calor AB and its Finnish subsidiary were purchased in 2001.
These additions assisted a wider move into the industrial upkeep and maintenance market. Primatel, the network construction and maintenance arm of the telecommunications firm Sonera, was added in 2002, and a year later the building systems concerns of ABB in Russia and the Nordic and Baltic regions were acquired, further increasing YIT's presence in the service sector. In 2008 and 2010 YIT has continued expanding its operations into Central Europe.
In March 2022, YIT quit all activities, such as investments and construction, in Russia because of 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
From Wikipedia’s article on YIT, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7