LAZARD EXPANDS SHAREHOLDER INSIGHT CAPABILITIES FOR CLIENTS
– New senior expertise and data analytics reflect evolving relationship between corporate leadership and investors –
NEW YORK, November 16, 2016 – Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ) announced today senior additions to its Financial Advisory business, expanding its capability to provide corporate leadership and directors with relevant, timely insights on activist and non-activist shareholders. Effective today, Mary Ann Deignan has joined Lazard’s Corporate Preparedness group as a Managing Director advising clients on shareholder activism, corporate governance trends and the changing profile of their public shareholders. Andrew Tryon Whittaker has joined the group as a Managing Director focusing on quantitative merger and acquisitions analyses and shareholder data analytics.
“There is a growing trend where virtually all large institutional investors are now engaged shareholders,” said Matt Lustig, Lazard’s Head of Investment Banking, North America. “We are serving our clients across our Advisory business with increased resources both on the qualitative side through a deep understanding of investor thinking, and on the quantitative side through data science.”
“Mary Ann Deignan is one of the most knowledgeable equity capital markets professionals on Wall Street, with investor relationships developed over 25 years,” said Jim Rossman, Managing Director, Head of Corporate Preparedness at Lazard. “Andrew Tryon Whittaker has unrivaled expertise in research and analytics on merger arbitrage, special situations and equity derivatives.”
Ms. Deignan joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she was Co-Head of Global Equity Capital Markets since 2014, prior to which she was Head of Americas Equity Capital Markets since 2011. Before that she worked for UBS since 2004, serving as Head of Americas Equity Capital Markets from 2007 to 2011. Between 1993 and 2004 she worked for Merrill Lynch in Equity Capital Markets. She began her investment banking career at Bankers Trust in Los Angeles, working in leveraged finance.
Mr. Whittaker joins from M81 Capital, a merger and event arbitrage hedge fund he founded in 2013. He has been a buy-side analyst and portfolio manager for most of the last ten years, at Timber Hill from 2009 to 2013, and at Goldman Sachs Asset Management from 2007 to 2009. He began his career as an equity analyst, and served as Global Head of Arbitrage Research for Lehman Brothers between 1999 and 2006, where he was a top-ranked analyst in equity derivatives research in 2005.
Lazard’s Corporate Preparedness group advises clients globally in connection with preparing for and responding to shareholder activism. It works closely with, and draws on the resources of, Lazard’s M&A and other advisory businesses.
About Lazard
Lazard, one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms, operates from 42 cities across 27 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America. With origins dating to 1848, the firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments and individuals.
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LAZ-FAPE
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