Bank Lazard

Lazard is a Franco-American Banque of businesses whose three principal offices are located at New York, Paris and London, by order of influence. The bank was founded in the United States in 1876 by three Jews Ashkénaze S emigrated in the United States from their native Lorraine) (but those exerted the trade of banker before): Alexandre, Elie and Simon Lazard, associated soon with their brother-in-law Alexandre Weill.

Although its historical trade is the management of credits, Lazard is especially known for its trade of council in fusion-acquisitions. Its secret character, the quality of connections of its associate-managers and its councils, and to a lesser extent, its tariffs rather in lower part of the market enabled him for a long time to maintain an influence without common measurement with the size of the bank itself. On the French market, it was even impossible to circumvent until 1997, the date of its last classification like number one of the bank-councils in fusion-acquisitions. Some of its associate-managers, among whom Antoine Bernheim, Felix Rohatyn, Raymond Philippe and André Meyer is at the origin of industrial empires such as LVMH or Cap Gemini, or were decisive in very delicate files such as the resequencing of finances of the town of New York, the defense of the franc in the Années 1930, or… the management of the wallet of transferable securities of Jackie Kennedy.

The culture of the bank Lazard, its structure of capital (partnership), its legendary conflicts between associates ended up limiting the options of the company and chipping the image of absolute power from which the bank profited a long time. Its chairman during almost 25 years, Michel David-Weill (1977-2001), qualified of “Last Emperor” with Wall Street so much his influence was decisive until in the Eighties, and last heir to a fabulous dynasty of bankers, finally had to yield his place to Bruce Wasserstein, an American deal-maker which took an active share with the Restructuration of the American companies in the Eighties and Nineties within First Boston (become CSFB) then of Wasserstein, Perella & Co (become Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein). Wasserstein took “with the hussarde” the capital intensive control of the bank by introducing some of its activities out of purse, in order to repurchase the participation in the capital of the historical families, not without difficulties since this operation showed the departure of some decisive associates, such Gerardo Braggiotti (which propelled Lazard to the row of number one of the bank-councils in Italy in a few years).

The next stage for Lazard consists in trying to regain its lost gloss, but some wonder on the motivations of the Wasserstein Almighty and in particular about his will to preserve the independence of the bank. In addition, the control of Lazard could become accessible under certain conditions from here a few years.

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