Lazard forms French connection
The Lazard group of investment banks and Credit Agricole, France's biggest retail bank, have formed an alliance between their equity capital markets ac-tivities.
The Lazard group of investment banks and Credit Agricole, France's biggest retail bank, have formed an alliance between their equity capital markets ac-tivities.
Agricole is France's biggest bank, holding a fifth of the country's current ac-counts and widely regarded as targeting the middle market while Lazard has little retail access but rather leans towards highly specialised investment banking.
The new joint venture, to be known as Crédit Agricole Indosuez Lazard Capi-tal Markets will seek to capitalise on strengths common within the two groups and provide access to resources that would be difficult to build individually.
Agricole had tier-one capital of $US 26billion at the end of last year giving it the financial strength to underwrite large securities issues, as well as wide ac-cess to retail investors in France. Lazard will expertise in structuring complex transactions.
The move was the result of an existing derivatives trading agreement between Lazard and Indosuez which remained in place when Agricole purchased Indo-suez, indicating the French retail bank and the specialised investment bank could work together.
The new alliance is non-exclusive and allows each of the partners to cooper-ate with other institutions without threatening the conditions of the deal.
Lazard Capital Markets is jointly owned by the three Lazard houses, which are based in London, New York and Paris.
Crédit Agricole Indosuez is Agricole's investment banking and securities divi-sion, mainly built around Indosuez, which it purchased in 1997 from holding company Suez who was in the process of merging with Lyonnaise des Eaux, a French utilities group.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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