Pekka Laaksonen, chief executive of Finland’s largest dairy company, Valio, has resigned citing exhaustion as the main reason behind his decision.

In particular, his decision was affected by the drawn-out legal dispute that Valio has been involved in over the last number of years.

The dispute began in December 2012, when the Finnish competition authority KKV proposed a €70m penalty against the company.

The investigation found that Valio, which is the dominant player in the Finnish dairy market, had dropped the wholesale price of its liquid milk below cost, thereby keeping out competition from rival company Arla.

After a lengthy legal battle in the Finnish market courts, the record fine of €70m was upheld against Valio last month.

Although Valio has announced its intention to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, Laaksonen said it had been a terribly burdensome process and that he was not prepared to pursue the dispute for an additional three years.

Laaksonen (58) had been CEO at Valio for the past seven years.