Emerging Europe Expertise


WOOD & Company is the leading investment bank in Emerging Europe. Founded in 1991 and head-quartered in Prague, our footprint spans the region and touches investors around the globe.

A pioneer in Emerging Europe, WOOD executed many of the first CEE equity trades and landmark investment banking transactions. Our electronic trading platform was the first in the region, and remains the best. We are continually expanding our relevance and reach in these ever-evolving markets.

Our equity market share reflects our stature: 6% in Warsaw, 19% in Bucharest, 24% in Hungary, 46% in Prague and 5% in Vienna.  Our distribution is unparalleled, with the largest salesforce in the region, servicing a uniquely diverse investor base. 

We combine local expertise with a truly international perspective. With offices on the ground in the region, and in key financial hubs such as London and Milano, we are never far from our clients and we remain at the forefront of what’s afoot in the CEE emerging and frontier landscape.

Meet our seasoned professionals who joined us from regional power houses like UniCredit, ING, Credit Suisse and Chevreux. Enquire about our wide product range including banking, trading and investing services. Visit us at our offices throughout Emerging Europe.

Executive Management
Vladimír Jaroš
Chief Executive Officer

Vladimír has been a member of the Board since 1994 and took responsibility for the firm's corporate finance business in 1997. He has directly managed numerous landmark transactions in the region, including large privatisations in the telecommunications, utilities, banking and engineering sectors in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

Jan Sýkora
Partner

Jan joined WOOD & Co. in 1994, building the company alongside Richard Wood. Since 1995, he managed WOOD’s Czech operations and assumed the role of Chairman of the Board after the buyout by the current partners in 2001. Jan manages senior relationships across all three operational divisions. He also serves on the boards of a range of public and private companies and organisations, including the Prague Stock Exchange, International School of Prague, and the Young Presidents’ Organisation.

Ľubomír Šoltýs
Partner

Lubo joined WOOD & Co. in 1996. His primary responsibility lies in the firm's Slovak operations, but he also provides the necessary support to other members of the corporate finance team. Lubo is also responsible for WOOD & Co.'s Merchant Banking and Private Equity activities, focusing on deal origination, strategic acquisitions and execution. Lubo has also built WOOD & Co.'s Slovak office into a recognised high-quality provider of other financial advisory services related to complex financial products, such as PPPs.

Senior Management
Kristen Andrasko
Head of Equities

Kristen joined WOOD & Co.’s EME Equities sales team in 2006, following four years with Goldman Sachs (London) and four years with Paribas (New York). Kristen took leadership of the sales desk in 2012 and since 2014, has managed Equities.

 

Grzegorz Skowroński
Head of Equities Poland

Part of the Warsaw team since 2010, Grzegorz heads up WOOD&Co.’s Polish Equity franchise, and covers both local and international accounts. Prior to WOOD&Co., he was Head of the Sales Team at UniCredit CAIB for seven years, covering international clients on Polish equities. He was also Head of Sales at SG Securities Poland.

Marta Jeżewska - Wasilewska
Co-Head of Research

Marta is an experienced and well-known professional to the Polish capital market, with more than seven years' experience. Marta was previously VP of the equity research department at Credit Suisse and a habitué of many prestigious analyst rankings. She joined WOOD&Co. in 2013, bringing a strong commercial focus, and a very high standing with both the Polish and international client base developed over her years at CSFB and BRE Bank.

Sector:
Financials

Alexandros Boulougouris, CFA
Co-Head of Research

Alex joined WOOD & Co.in 2014, following more than 22 years’ experience in equity research and portfolio management. Prior to joining WOOD & Co., Alex was a Senior Equity Analyst at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux. Most recently, Alex ran a EUR 1.1bn global portfolio for a Greek public pension fund. He is consistently ranked in the top positions in the EXTEL, Institutional Investors and client voting surveys.

 

Sector:
Industrials
Consumer
Materials
Construction
Financials

Václav Karpíšek
Head of Electronic Trading

Vaclav is responsible for the company's electronic products, including order routing and automated algorithmic execution strategies. Along with his team, he provides electronic services to international, domestic and internal clients. Vaclav joined WOOD&Co. in 2004 and has pioneered the electronic trading and other electronic products in the region.

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.

Jarosław Jan Deryło
Managing Director | Head of Investment Banking – Emerging & Frontier Markets

Jarosław has over 20 years of experience in investment banking in Poland and EMEA. A veteran of UniCredit CAIB, and ING, he has been engaged in >50 deals in ECM, M&A and DCM, many of which were landmark transactions involving CEE blue chips and quality high-growth mid-caps.

Nick Kaufmann
Head of Equity Capital Markets & Syndicate

Nick has over 20 years of experience in Investment Banking in London. He was previously Head of Emerging Markets Equity Capital Markets for Citigroup, Schroders and UniCredit CA IB. During his time in each of these positions, he helped to build the companies into leading CEE ECM franchises.

Nick played an integral role in pioneering transactions in the development of the Emerging European equity capital markets, and is an expert in the structuring of regional equity deals. He has been directly responsible for originating, executing and supervising 100+ ECM deals worth USD 20bn+, running the gamut from mid-cap to blue chip.

Before joining WOOD, Nick spent the prior five years acting as a Managing Partner and shareholder of Q-Advisers (a merchant banking boutique focused on Germany, Austria and Emerging Europe). His clients have included Cyfrowy Polsat, AmRest, LC Corp and Cinema City (all as bookrunner), as well as Mondi, EVM REI, Ethemba Capital, Multimedia, Dom Development, GTC, Bioton, TVN, Borsodchem, CosmOTE, Gedeon Richter, OTP Bank, Bank Handlowy, NRW and Petropavlovsk. Nick has also worked as an independent corporate finance advisor for DO&CO, TomTom and an Austrian power engineering company, as well as for Gedeon Richter.

 

 

Bogdan Campianu
Managing Director

Bogdan joined WOOD & Co. in 2014 as the head of our newly-established Romania branch. He brings over 22 years’ capital markets experience, gained at Global Securities Romania and Raiffeisen Capital & Investment, where he was Head of Research and Head of Equity Markets. Bogdan’s experience includes listings, private placements, secondary public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, among other things. He was involved in virtually all the major deals on the Romanian capital market. Bogdan is also a member of the Indices Committee at the Bucharest Stock Exchange. 

Sergio Zora
Managing Director

Sergio has been working in the brokerage industry since 1976. He was Head of Domestic Deposits at Sige Tradition S.p.A. from 1982 to 1986, after which he became a board member of Intlux S.A. and Nuova Interfin S.r.l. He has also been Chairman of ICM Forex, a company authorised by Banca d’Italia in FX trading for non-institutional clients. In 1989, he founded and became Chairman of the Board of International Capital Markets SIM S.p.A. He was later appointed CEO. From 2005 to 2014, he acted as Managing Director of IFP Milan Branch. In January 2005, he was elected a member of the Audit Committee of ATIC-Forex, the Italian financial markets association. In February 2010, ATIC-Forex and Assiom merged into AssiomForex, and Sergio was confirmed until January 2016 as a member of the Audit Committee of the new association involving over 1,400 Italian financial market operators. Since February 2016, he has been a member of the board of AssiomForex. Sergio joined WOOD&Co as Branch Manager in September 2014, following the acquisition of IFP.

Jaroslav Krabec, CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Jaroslav has been working in the financial markets since 1994. He joined WOOD&Co. as Chief Investment Officer in the Asset Management department in 2008, bringing his experience from ING Investment Management (Czech Republic) and ING DSS (Slovakia) where he was a member of the board and Head of the Investment Banking division. Jaroslav has been the Chairman of the Board at WOOD&Co. Investiční společnost, a.s. since the takeover of Credit Suisse Asset Management, Inc. by WOOD&Co in November 2009.

 

Michal Staroň
Managing Director

Michal joined WOOD&Co. in 2003. He has extensive experience in M&A, privatisations, acquisition financing, public private partnerships, option scheme remuneration programmes and trustee structure executions.

Awards