Lazard Ltd

Investment bank Lazard Ltd reported a nearly 147% surge in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, powered by growth in its financial advisory business as corporate dealmaking activity ended the year on a high.

Investment bank Lazard Ltd said on Friday it is reorganising its Australia operations, retaining its asset management arm in the country in-house but handing over mergers and acquisitions advisory services to a new, "affiliated" firm.

A blank-check firm backed by investment bank Lazard Ltd is aiming to raise $500 million in a U.S. initial public offering (IPO), a regulatory filing showed on Monday.

A joint venture comprising Air Products, ACWA Power and NEOM has hired financial firm Lazard to advise it on a planned $5 billion hydrogen project in the NEOM high-tech business zone in Saudi Arabia, sources said.

Lazard Ltd has hired restructuring banker Sam Whittaker from PJT Partners to oversee negotiations between companies and their creditors across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as a second wave of COVID-19 leaves many businesses fighting for survival.

Investment bank Lazard Ltd <LAZ.N> comfortably beat quarterly profit expectations on Thursday thanks to a recovery in deal-making activity, although weakness in its asset management arm weighed.

Investment bank Lazard Ltd posted a 14% drop in its third-quarter profit on Thursday as subdued dealmaking activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on earnings.

Suriname has tapped French investment bank Lazard Ltd to help the South American nation refinance its foreign debt, President Chan Santokhi said on Thursday.

Cerberus and a rival investment firm have told HSBC <HSBA.L> they would buy its French retail arm for a symbolic one euro provided the British bank ploughs more than 500 million euros ($582.70 million) into the business, sources told Reuters.

Spanish regional telecom operator Euskaltel <EKTL.MC> has hired investment bank Lazard <LAZ.N> to explore a potential sale of its broadband network, Expansion newspaper reported on Friday, citing unidentified market sources.

Investment bank Lazard Ltd <LAZ.N> on Friday reported an 8% fall in second-quarter adjusted earnings per share, a smaller drop than analysts had expected, as the slowdown in corporate dealmaking due to the COVID-19 pandemic weighed.

More governments could be forced into negotiations with creditors this year as the coronavirus crisis piles further pressure onto countries already struggling with debt repayments, executives at investment bank Lazard said.

Activist investors demanded more change at European and Japanese companies in the first half of 2020 while giving U.S. companies a pass, for now, new data from investment bank Lazard show.

Serie A has picked Lazard to weigh the private equity bids for its broadcast rights business, two sources close to the matter said, as Italy's top-flight soccer league looks at ways to weather the financial storm triggered by the coronavirus.

Corporate agitators who had tread lightly as the deadly coronavirus spread in March and April stepped up the pressure on global corporations by launching 16 new campaigns in May, including five in Japan, data from Lazard Ltd <LAZ.N> show.

Lazard Ltd has bolstered its senior restructuring team as it seeks to win business from companies struggling to stay afloat in the midst of the economic turbulence caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Moelis & Co <MC.N> has hired veteran oil and gas banker Mark Renton to work in its energy team, according to a memo seen by Reuters, the contents of which were confirmed by a spokeswoman.

* LAZARD LTD SAYS CEO KENNETH JACOBS' FY 2019 TOTAL COMPENSATION WAS $10.5 MILLION VERSUS $11.46 MILLION IN FY 2018 - SEC FILING

Investment bank Lazard Ltd <LAZ.N> said on Thursday net profit in 2019 slumped by 44% year on year, as last year's slowdown in corporate dealmaking weighed on earnings, but the company said fourth-quarter activity gave grounds for optimism in 2020.