Lazard history

1852: Lazard Frères & Cie is opened in Paris.

In 1870, the family opened an office in London.

By 1876, Lazard Frères had abandoned all of its other activities to focus solely on its financial services business.

1880: Lazard Frères moves to New York.

In 1908, the London office became a separate company, which was a prelude to the company leaving, in large part, the Lazard/Weill family's control.

An early cross-border success came in 1928, when the French office partnered with American investors to purchase and expand the financing arm of Citroen, the French automaker.

1932: Pearson gains 80 percent of Lazard Brothers.

1943: Amid the upheaval of World War II, Pierre David-Weill and André Meyer flee France and join the New York office.

1948: Felix Rohatyn joins company as partner.

1961: David-Weill is named general partner of Lazard Frères & Co.

1989: David-Weill is named head of Lazard Brothers.

1995: Lazard Capital Markets is formed.

1996: Single profits pool is created for three Lazard firms.

Lazard, which had long ranked among the top tier mergers and acquisitions houses, found itself slipping in the ranks, and even dropped out of the top ten entirely in 1997.

In 2000, after more than 150 years of separate management, the Houses of Lazard formally united into a single entity to best serve our clients.