Benson Oak
An Investment Banking Company
Benson Oak Professionals
The professionals of Benson Oak combine a wide range of banking, corporate finance and operational experience, most of the time spent in Central and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Gabriel Eichler
founder of Benson Oak, has held senior executive positions in banking and industry in both the US and Europe. He acquired his first international banking experience at Bank of America where he spent 15 years, half of it in the bank's headquarters in the US and half as regional General Manager for Bank of America in Paris, Vienna and Frankfurt. As the Chief International Economist, he was responsible for country risk assessment of over 100 countries, participated on the Country Risk Committee in establishing country guidelines, portfolio decisions and in sovereign debt restructurings, and advised senior management on global economic and political issues. He was chair or member of several international sovereign debt restructuring committees. After leaving Bank of America, Mr. Eichler spent a year as a partner and EVP in a US private equity group.
Until January 2001, Mr. Eichler was Chairman of the Board, President & CEO of VS®, the largest steel company in Central Europe. At the request of the company's bank lenders, he led the Slovak company from the brink of bankruptcy, engineered its financial and operational restructuring, returned it to profitability, and subsequently negotiated the sale of its steel business to US Steel. From 1994 to 1998 he was Vice Chairman of the Board and until the end of 1996 CFO of ČEZ. His main task was to organize the company to be able to finance a CZK 170 billion investment program. ČEZ became the first company in post-communist Europe to obtain a rating (investment grade), first to access the Euromarkets and the US capital markets. He was Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ČSOB (the largest Czech bank) a member of the Supervisory Boards of Česká pojią»ovna (the largest Czech insurance company) and Slovenská sporiteĺna (the largest Slovak bank), a member of the Board of the EastWest Institute and the Atlantic Council of the US. In the early nineties, he advised the Czechoslovak government on economic transformation.
Born in 1950, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, Mr. Eichler completed undergraduate and graduate studies in the US, lived mostly in the US and Western Europe between 1968 and 1990 and speaks several European languages.
Mr. Robert E. Cohen
partner at Benson Oak, has led and managed a number of Benson Oak's equity and debt transactions. He has experience in a range of financial activities including M&A advisory, private-equity financings, domestic and international capital market fund-raising and general management advisory. Mr. Cohen joined Benson Oak in 1996 and previously worked as Senior Manager for PlanEcon in Prague and Washington, D.C..
Mr. Cohen has led and participated in numerous transactions in the Central European region, including loan, bond, multilateral and equity financings. He sits on the Board of Directors of Grisoft. Mr. Cohen has a Master's Degree in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Bachelor's Degree from the University Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Mr. Cohen is a citizen of the United States; he speaks fluent Czech and understands Slovak.
Mr. Justin G. Fancher, CFA,
vice president at Benson Oak, has over ten years of finance experience in both investment banking and asset management. Mr. Fancher spent four years in the equity research and capital markets groups of Robertson, Stephens & Company, a boutique investment bank based in San Francisco. Whilst in the capital markets group, Mr. Fancher was involved in the valuation, pricing and allocation of over 30 initial and secondary offerings of shares, ranging from retail to high technology firms. Prior to joining Benson Oak in 2002, Mr. Fancher was an analyst with mPower Advisors, L.L.C. a money management and asset allocation firm also based in San Francisco. With mPower, he covered international investments, focusing on European equities and currencies and was responsible for the firm's international strategy.
In addition to his position with Benson Oak, Mr. Fancher also served as Chief Financial Officer of Body Basics s.r.o., a specialty body care retailer in Central Europe. Mr. Fancher holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of San Diego, an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago´s Graduate School of Business and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mr. Jaroslav Sopuch,
Jaroslav Sopuch, who has joined Benson Oak in 2006, brings more than 10 years of combined experience in investment banking and private equity. He was involved in a number of M&A and private equity transactions in the region. Prior to Benson Oak, Jaroslav has been a Partner and Investment Director with responsibilities for Czech Republic and Slovakia with Dresdner Kleinwort Capital´s $225 million Central European private equity fund (2001-04), a Director with CDA, a Central European private equity fund manager (2000-01), and a Director with Consilium, an investment banking joint venture of ČSOB, the leading Czech commercial bank and N M Rothschild & Sons (1995-2000). In 1996-97, he was seconded to work for N M Rothschild & Sons in London, mostly on Central European banking privatizations.
Most recently, Jaroslav advised SkyEurope, the leading Central European low-cost airline, that has raised EUR 60 million via an IPO on the Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges in 2005. Jaroslav is a Czech citizen and holds a degree from Prague School of Economics. He speaks fluent English in addition to his native Czech.
Mr. Tomas Fencl, CFA,
vice president at Benson Oak has more than ten years' experience in M&A, corporate finance and capital market activities. Prior to joining Benson Oak in 2007, Mr. Fencl was Vice President at Bank of America Securities in New York, specializing in M&A, focusing on automotive, chemical, packaging, transportation and other industrial sectors. Before Bank of America Securities, Mr. Fencl was an Associate at Citigroup Global Markets in New York, focusing on consumer products and retail sector transactions.
Between 1998 and 2000, Tomas worked at Stern Stewart & Co. in London as a member of EVA® management system implementation team at Diaego, UK-based global food and beverage company; Akzo Nobel, Dutch chemical company and AliaChem, Czech chemical company. He published an article on EVA® in Ekonom, a leading Czech business weekly magazine.
Mr. Fencl holds a Master´s Degree in Economics from the University of Economics Prague and an M.B.A. with High Distinction from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Tomas is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He speaks fluent English in addition to his native Czech.