History overview
For more than 20 years, Benson Oak advised public and private clients on a wide variety of financial matters. Working with large Czech, Slovak and multinational corporations such as CEZ, Ceske Drahy, Slovenske Elektrarne and Unipetrol, Benson Oak has built a strong track record of supporting its clients with debt financing, M&A advisory and treasury services.
The first eight years of Benson Oak’s operations were dominated by debt advisory services, arranging syndicated loans and bond issuances for corporates and municipalities alike. With clients ranging from CEZ to the city of Plzen to Ceske Drahy, Benson Oak led over 50 transactions denominated in eight currencies including the first SEC-registered bond issue in the United States by a central or eastern European corporate.
Benson Oak’s 2001 sale of a stake in Schemantix, an e-business software concern, to a consortium of investors marked its first significant M&A advisory mandate. This project led to other opportunities, as the entrepreneurs who started businesses in the early 1990s began to look for ways to capitalize on their success; by 2008, we completed more than 10 M&A transactions in addition to our debt advisory activities. In 2005, Benson Oak became the Czech and Slovak partner for Global M&A, the world’s leading network of mid-market advisory firms.
Benson Oak s.r.o. now serves as the exclusive advisor to Benson Oak Capital, focusing its energies entirely on the acquisition and disposal of the firm’s assets.