Lazard today announced that William Rucker has assumed the role of Chief Executive of Lazard & Co., Limited, in London. Mr. Rucker was formerly Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Investment Banking in London.

In addition to his client work, Mr. Rucker assumes overall responsibility for the firm's Investment Banking and Capital Markets businesses in London. Peter Kiernan, a Managing Director, becomes Head of Investment Banking.

Marcus Agius, Chairman of Lazard in London, said: "William is a terrific banker and he has done an outstanding job running the Investment Banking department for the last four-and-a-half years. In his new role, whilst he will continue to devote a substantial proportion of his time to working with clients, I'm confident that his leadership ability will prove to be invaluable to our business in London.

"Peter takes the role of head of Investment Banking at a time when we look to increase our advisory work. He brings a fresh outlook and a great deal of experience to his new responsibilities."

Mr. Rucker joined Lazard in 1987 from Arthur Andersen where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In 2000, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of Lazard & Co., Limited, in London and Head of Investment Banking; and became a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Mr. Rucker has worked on many of the firm's high-profile transactions, including in 2004: the sale of Canary Wharf, UCB's offer to acquire Celltech, advising Alvis on the offer from British Aerospace, and the sale of a portfolio of 220 pubs by Spirit Group.

-MORE-

2-appointments

Mr. Kiernan joined Lazard earlier this year from Goldman Sachs. Before working at Goldman, he was a Managing Director at UBS Warburg. He joined S.G.Warburg in 1986 from Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Lazard, the world's pre-eminent advisory investment bank, is present in 16 countries around the globe. Lazard provides international financial advisory services and global transaction execution to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments, and individuals. Services include mergers and acquisitions, asset management, restructurings, capital markets execution, real estate investment banking, and alternative investment management.

# # #

For more information, please contact:

London:

Richard Creswell, 44 20 7187 2305

richard.creswell@lazard.com

New York:

Rich Silverman, 00 1 212 632 6285

richard.silverman@lazard.com