David Plch, head of the Banking and Financial Restructuring and Insolvency practice of the Prague office, concentrates on financing, financial restructuring and insolvency. He often advises financial institutions and major corporations in relation to their cross-border projects in Central and Eastern Europe. In the past 12 years, he has been involved in nearly all of the major financing and financial restructuring transactions undertaken by our office, representing financial institutions and large corporate and private equity clients throughout Europe, Asia and in the United States.

Mr. Plch regularly advises major financial institutions, corporations and sovereign entities in connection with their international and local financing arrangements, including project and export finance transactions and acquisition financing.

Mr. Plch has been advising banks, strategic and financial investors, corporations and sovereign entities in various industry sectors on the practical and legal aspects of financial restructuring projects, including out-of-court financial restructurings, or formal reorganizations under court protection and insolvency proceedings.

He has played an important role in several successful out-of-court restructurings, including acting for a steering committee of senior bank creditors of Aliachem, a large Czech chemical conglomerate, several restructurings in the project and export finance area with significant cross-border aspects, and major ongoing financial restructuring projects resulting from the current economic environment.

Mr. Plch is currently leading teams on a number of major insolvency cases in the Central and Eastern European Region. On some of those projects, complex financing arrangements are tested before the local courts for the first time. Mr. Plch led the team on a court case in which the concepts of syndicated lending and security agents rights were successfully defended for the first time in the Czech Republic.

In addition, Mr. Plch has represented financial institutions in connection with the structuring of their investment in private equity funds and the formation of two real estate funds. He also regularly advises private equity and real estate funds in connection with their investment and financing transactions.

Mr. Plch worked in the Banking section of the New York office of White & Case in 2001 and 2002, where he was mainly involved in global acquisition finance transactions, and where he also represented lenders in connection with a Chapter 11 formal court reorganization of one of their clients with significant global operations.

He regularly lectures on various financing, financial restructuring and insolvency topics and related cross-border aspects at seminars organized for financial institutions and at various conferences.

Representative transactions include:

• Ongoing out-of-court financial restructuring of several companies with operations in Central and Eastern Europe; 
• Ongoing assistance to several bank syndicates in connection with insolvency proceedings and related litigation concerning companies with operations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland; 
• Advising BNP Paribas, Natexis Transport Finance, Československá obchodní banka and the export credit agencies of France, Germany and the UK in connection with aircraft financing for CSA, the airline of the Czech Republic, for 12 Airbus A320 aircraft; 
• Acting for ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and Commerzbank AG in connection with the acquisition financing of Vitkovice Steel, a leading European manufacturer of rolled steel products, provided to the Evraz Group; this financing effectively concluded the privatization of the Czech steel industry; 
• Mr. Plch has been involved in more than 30 project export and export financings provided to borrowers in numerous countries, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, and Georgia; 
• Representation of the Czech Deposit Insurance Fund (Fond pojištění vkladů), a Czech deposit insurance entity, in connection with its debut CZK 3 billion syndicated facility; the financing was related to the insolvency of Union Banka, a.s., the largest Czech bank insolvency case; 
• Acting for Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan as an arranger in connection with a US$ 1.5 billion financing provided to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., one of the largest hotel operators in the world; 
• Advising Morgan Stanley Senior Funding as an arranger in connection with a US$ 450 million senior secured acquisition financing provided to EnerSys Holdings, Inc., the largest industrial battery manufacturer in the world; 
• Acting for the Steering Committee of Bank Creditors of Aliachem, a.s., a Czech chemical conglomerate, in connection with a financial standstill arrangement and the subsequent successful restructuring of their financial exposure; 
• Representing Deutsche Bank in connection with the US$ 575 million Chapter 11 exit financing provided to Dade Behring, the world’s largest clinical diagnostics company; this financing successfully consummated the debt restructuring of Dade Behring; 
• Acting for a CEE regional financial group in connection with the acquisition of a foreign bank, and acting for UniCredit Group in connection with the contemplated acquisition of a Czech bank.

Bars and Courts
Czech Bar Association

Education
PhD, thesis on "Arbitration in International Trade,", Masaryk University, Faculty of Law, Brno, Czech Republic, 2003
JD, (JUDr.), thesis on "Legal Aspects of Export Financing,", Masaryk University, Faculty of Law, Brno, Czech Republic, 2001
Postgraduate Program Focused on International Business Law, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1996
Master's degree (Mgr.), thesis on "Resolution of Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States,", Masaryk University, Faculty of Law, Brno, Czech Republic, 1996

Awards and Recognition
Mr. Plch's reputation in the legal market has resulted in top rankings from specialized legal publications and directories. He is named as a leading lawyer both in the financial restructuring and insolvency area and in the banking and finance area by all recent editions of Chambers Global, International Financial Law Review, PLC Which Lawyer?, and The Legal 500.

Publications
"Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods in International Trade," Bulletin Advokacie (Advocacy Bulletin), June-July 2001

Languages
Czech
English
Russian
Slovak

Citizenship
Czech