Investment Banking


WOOD & Company is well known for the high quality of its investment banking services. Clients value our ability to combine impartial advice with effective solutions, as well as our long-term relationships with local corporations, institutions and local and international investors, nurtured over many years. Our highly-respected team of professionals offers a full range of investment banking services, including privatisation advisory, M&A advisory, initial and secondary public equity offerings, financial restructuring and debt funding advisory.

The firm is consistently credited with closing complex transactions often involving business overlooked by the larger investment banking firms. WOOD & Company has participated in a wide range of corporate finance transactions in the CEE region over the years and the firm has also acted on behalf of state authorities and blue chip international corporations in a number of the region's high profile transactions.

Team members are highly experienced, with deep roots in Emerging Europe and unrivaled knowledge of their markets. Members of the team have executed a wide array of high profile transactions across Emerging Europe in the past few years and have had a very significant cumulative market share in the most active placement market, Poland.

Local Knowledge - Global Research

 

We offer an unrivalled regional footprint and geographic reach via Europe's largest dedicated EME team:
  • One of the largest CEE-dedicated sales & trading teams in London
    •          
  • Strong team in Prague focused on sales to local, international and CEE-based investors (ex-Poland)
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  • Strong sales & trading desk in Warsaw with constantly growing market share and focus on the Polish market

           
     
         
Staff on the ground - more than 260 employees:
IB team
33
Bratislava - 14
Bucharest - 2
London - 5
Prague - 8
Warsaw - 4
Sales, Sales Trading
& Execution
16
London - 1
New York - 1*
Prague - 10
Warsaw - 4
Research
19
London - 4
Prague - 9
Warsaw - 5
Bucharest - 1

* in association with Brasil Plural

     
WOOD & Co. is top-class full-service investment bank spanning the entire product spectrum 
  • Advisory on public and commercial mergers & acquisitions         
  • Advisory on privatizations      
  • Advisory on debt financings   
  • Advisory on PIPE(Private Investment in Public Equity)   
  • Public Private Partnership Projects (PPP)       
  • Initial Public Offerings        
  • Public Calls         
  • Valuations         
  • Exit strategies         
  • Advisory on financing         
  • Advisory on specific corporate finance situations         
  • Merchant banking         
  • Business plan development   
  • Feasibillity study preparation
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Equity Capital Markets

WOOD & Company is one of the best-positioned investment banks to execute Equity Capital Markets deals across the Emerging Europe. The firm has been gaining its enviable regional ECM experience since late-1990s when it managed and co-managed a large number of public offerings in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. It has transformed into a CEE powerhouse in late 2010. WOOD & Company has an unique track record of advising and executing Initial Public Offerings, fully marketed secondary offerings & sell downs, accelerated & reverse bookbuilds secondary / dual listing and buybacks. We have consistently demonstrated the ability to outplace other internationally oriented institutions, including in large-scale IPOs and ABBs accessing demand from all relevant geographies.

The last years saw WOOD & Company act as bookrunner in a number of sell downs, advising and executing sales for the EBRD, Fondul Proprietatea, the Polish State Treasury, the Romanian government as well as various private equity funds and corporates.

 WOOD & Company supports its clients with active secondary equity trading, consistent research coverage and active communication with key local and international institutional investors. Our wide-ranging credentials prove our ability to manage successfully virtually any transaction and communicate the process effectively with international and regional institutions.

Meet Our International Teams
David Tajzich
Managing Director

David joined WOOD&Co. in 2001. He has 20 years' experience in corporate finance and capital markets advisory. He specialises in debt and equity capital market transactions, including IPOs, SPOs, listings, share buybacks and takeover, bids, and M&A selected transactions: VLP, RWE Grid holding, HOB CerTec, Sanofi, NWR, WARIMPEX, Zentiva, ORCO, ČEZ, SMVaK, TV Prima and Telefonica.

Miloš Čebík
Director

Miloš joined WOOD&Co. in 2008. He has 15 years' experience in investment banking, energy, utilities, telecommunications, engineering and the food industry. Clients and transactions he has been involved with include: Macquarie, Towercom, RWE Grid Holding, MasokombinátPlzeň, FVE Czech Novum Financing and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.

Peter Turner
Director

Peter joined WOOD & Co. in 2006. He has 15 years' experience in investment banking and financial services, most recently with a focus on real estate, bond issues and private placements. Peter’s experience also includes financial services, engineering industries and construction, online, energy and waste management. Transactions and clients he has been involved with include: Prague’s HARFA, KRAKOV and ŠESKA shopping malls; the HADOVKA and GREENLINE offices; SATPO; City Home; K&K Invest Group; Fincentrum; MVVEnergie; TERMIZO; ORGREZ; Discovery Group; Real Prag; Help Financial; Window Holding; VEKRA; OTHERM; Top Wood Windows; and Warburg Pincus; among others.

Ondřej Berka
Director

Ondřej joined WOOD&Co. in 2008. He has over 15 years' experience in investment banking, financial services, media, food & beverage, transportation, healthcare, real estate and engineering. He has worked with VLP, Fincentrum, HOB CerTec, GIP, Škoda Power, Warimpex and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, among others.

Oliver Polyak
Manager

Oliver joined the team in 2013, soon after his graduation from the Institute of Economic Studies at Charles University in Prague, with a specialisation in finance and banking. Over the years, he has completed numerous M&A (buy-side and sell-side advisory) and capital markets (debt and equity) transactions across multiple sectors (real estate, financial services, energy, utilities, retail, telcos and pharma). He became a CFA charterholder in 2018.

Robin Ibl
Senior Associate

Robin has been a member of WOOD & Co.’s investment banking team since 2019. Previously, Robin worked for PwC Transaction Advisory and Roland Berger, and has experience in manufacturing, real estate and retail. Robin has been involved in valuations, financial modelling, strategy and financing advisory.

Petra Lacuchová
Analyst

Petra joined WOOD & Co. in 2022 as a member of the investment banking team. Prior to joining WOOD & Co., Petra worked as a financial due diligence consultant at EY Strategy and Transactions department. She was engaged in the buy-side and sell-side transactions in energy, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate and retail.

Samuel Vrbovský
Analyst

Samuel joined WOOD & Co. in 2022 as a member of the investment banking team

Prior to joining WOOD & Co., Samuel worked as an Investment Analyst in asset management at Verdi Capital where he analyzed bonds and equities of publicly traded companies, with a focus on IT, retail, real estate, and agriculture sectors.


Meet Our Investment Management Team


Martin Peška
Investment Manager

Martin (re)joined WOOD & Co. in February 2017. After leaving WOOD & Co.’s Investment Banking team in late-2008, Martin worked at Czech Export Bank (lastly as Director of Structured Finance), where he was responsible primarily for complex large-scale export and project finance transactions, especially in Turkey, the Balkan region, and the Russian Federation. Following this, Martin joined Sberbank CZ as Senior Banker – Team Leader for Top Corporations. Currently, Martin is mainly responsible for capital participations of WOOD & Co. group, including international portfolio of venture investments (over 30 companies invested), merchant banking/private equity projects in the Czech Republic (e.g. consolidation of biogas stations in the Czech Republic) and developing other projects and business ideas for the WOOD & Co. group.

Zuzana Růžička Šejtková
Investment Manager

Zuzana joined WOOD & Co. in February 2021, after six years at Czech Export Bank (lastly as the Director of the Export Finance Department). Zuzana was responsible for complex export finance transactions all over the world, from small trade finance operations to large-scale multichannel project finance transactions. She started her career in management consulting in KPMG, where she specialised in project, export and banking finance, resulting in her transition to Czech Export Bank. As part of WOOD & Co.’s Venture Management team, Zuzana is responsible for the capital participations of the WOOD & Co. group, merchant banking/private equity projects in the Czech Republic (e.g., the consolidation of biogas stations in the Czech Republic), and developing other projects and business ideas for the WOOD & Co. group.

Barbora Rajnohová
Manager

Barbora joined WOOD&Co. in 2012 as a member of investment banking team. Her experience is in in telecommunications, media, energy, utilities and real estate. Over the years, she has been involved in deal origination, financial modelling, valuations, due diligence coordination, buy-side/sell-side advisory mandates, bond emissions and private placements.

Tomáš Kacerovský
Investment Analyst

Tomas joined WOOD & Co. in 2021 as a member of the Venture Capital team. Prior to joining WOOD & Co., Tomas worked as a Financial Specialist in the Market Risk team in Commerzbank and later as a Financial Analyst for the Cloud Computing projects in Accenture. 

Engaged in the Company and Industry analysis and Venture Capital investments evaluation.


M&A Advisory

WOOD & Company has incomparable experience with complex M&A deals for domestic, regional and international, strategic and financial investors. The company regularly advises on complex M&A transactions involving negotiations with regulators and state authorities. WOOD & Company has been involved in almost all major Czech and Slovak privatisation projects, including the successful privatisation of Český Telecom, where WOOD & Company successfully advised Telefonica on the acquisition of a 51% stake in Český Telecom, including the subsequent mandatory buyout.

WOOD & Company has an excellent record in securing complex acquisition and project financing for corporate clients, leveraging on our close, long-term relationships with local and regional banks at both senior executive and operational levels.

WOOD & Co is also a member of Oaklins, the world’s most experienced mid-market M&A advisors, with over 850 professionals and dedicated industry teams in more than 45 countries, having closed 1,700 transactions in the past five years.

Equity Structured Products

We have a range of investment instruments that five our clients access to non-listed investment opportunities in Emerging Europe. These are usually issued in the form of a warrant, which is listed on a western stock exchange and quoted on a daily basis (prices available on Bloomberg, Reuters, etc.). WOOD & Company acts as a market maker in all of the warrants issued.

Access products can be tailor-made if certain volume requirements are met and are ideal instruments for exposure to the least developed frontier markets, such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. In addition, they give the opportunity to invest in pre-IPO, private equity type companies which would not be investable otherwise.

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