The Houses of Lazard

Through the early and mid-twentieth century, the three Lazard "Houses" in London, Paris and New York continued to grow their respective operations independently of each other, with the New York House coming under the leadership of André Meyer in 1944. Under Mr. Meyer and continuing with Felix Rohatyn, the New York House further developed its reputation as a preeminent mergers and acquisitions advisory firm. Michel David-Weill, a descendant of the founding families, joined Lazard Frères et Cie. in Paris in 1956, ascended to a leadership role within the French operations and later moved to the New York House, where he became senior partner in 1977.

Lazard has conducted an asset management business in Paris since 1969, establishing a separate subsidiary, Lazard Frères Gestion, for those operations in 1995. In 1970, the New York House entered the institutional asset management business by establishing Lazard Asset Management to complement its financial advisory business.

Throughout the twentieth century, Lazard’s Paris and New York Houses were owned by the Houses’ individual partners and by relations of their founders. For much of that period, the London House was majority-owned by Pearson plc, until the sale in 2000 by Pearson of its interests to a predecessor of Eurazeo S.A.

Global Unification

The unification of the Houses of Lazard under a single global firm was completed on January 3, 2000, with their merger to form Lazard LLC. We believe that this combination has enabled us to offer our clients the benefits of a more unified global firm while preserving the advantages of our century-old, local roots. Bruce Wasserstein joined Lazard in early 2002 as Head of Lazard. Under Mr. Wasserstein’s direction, Lazard has pursued a strategy of growing its Financial Advisory and Asset Management businesses by attracting senior investment bankers and investment advisory professionals to our firm.

Lazard’s history as a preeminent financial advisor has contributed to its ability to secure key advisory roles in some of the most important, complex and recognizable mergers and acquisitions of the last 75 years. In recent years, we have advised on nearly 1,000 completed mergers and acquisitions, having a cumulative value in excess of $1 trillion.

Lazard has also advised on some of the largest and highest-profile corporate restructurings around the world. Since 1999, we have advised on more than 100 in- and out-of-court restructurings totalling over $300 billion of debt.