Lazard sees dramatic increase in restructuring advisory activity during fourth quarter

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., Feb. 4 - Lazard LLC saw a dramatic increase in restructuring and capital structure advisory activity in the fourth quarter and expects the elevated levels to continue in 2009, Steven J. Golub, vice chairman of Lazard, said Wednesday during the firm's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

Additionally, Golub said Lazard is seeing a heightened level of restructuring and debt advisory activity in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

The firm is engaged in more than 70 restructuring assignments worldwide involving more than 20 industry sectors.

Lazard intends to continue hiring key professionals to redeploy into potential growth areas, including restructuring and capital advisory as well as select areas in asset management, Bruce Wasserstein, chief executive officer of Lazard, said during the call.

Long-term growth drivers for the firm are likely to be the eventual resurgence of M&A activity, the continued need for restructuring and capital raising and the asset management business, he said.

During the call, Wasserstein noted that the firm's restructuring business focuses on both court-mandated and non-court-mandated reorganizations.

"Basically anyone who has a maturity coming up in the next couple of years begins to think about, 'Do I have the ideal capital structure?' and 'What are my alternatives?'" he said.

"That may eventually result in asset sales or equity issuance or private placements or it may end up with a court situation or pre-packaged court situation."

Within M&A advisory, Wasserstein said successful companies with access to capital are seeking advice on the optimal time to deploy their cash toward a strategic opportunity.

As a result, both companies and governments have recently begun seeking more broad advice than in the past.

Lazard is a New York-based financial advisory and asset management firm.

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