Mergers and Acquisitions
Our Mergers and Acquisitions services include general strategic and transaction-specific advice regarding domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, privatizations, special committee assignments, takeover defenses, strategic partnerships, joint ventures and specialized real estate advisory services. We provide advice to managements and boards of directors, business owners, governments, institutions, investors and other interested parties on a worldwide basis. Our dedicated industry specialty groups include: consumer, financial institutions, financial sponsors, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, power and energy, real estate and technology, media and telecommunications. We also currently provide various corporate-finance advisory services, such as fund-raising for alternative investment firms and public and private financings.

Financial Restructuring
Our Financial Restructuring practice, which specializes in helping companies in financial distress, is an important strategic component of our Financial Advisory business. We believe we are the leading financial restructuring advisory firm in the world, having advised on most of the largest and highest profile corporate restructurings over the last several years. We believe that we have been able to secure our leading position in this practice area through a combination of our restructuring and industry-related expertise and our independent position. This practice complements our Mergers and Acquisitions practice because it is generally more active when our Mergers and Acquisitions practice is less active. In addition, our Financial Restructuring practice often generates follow-on relationships and assignments that survive the completion of restructuring-related engagements.

Capital Raising
In addition, Lazard's Financial Advisory also consists of the Private Fund Advisory Group, a new service that raises capital for private equity funds, which commenced operations in 2003; and corporate-finance activities.

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