Lazard chief's head on the block

BRUCE Wasserstein, the chief executive of Lazard, will be expected to leave if he fails to get a near-$3bn (£1.64bn) float of the investment bank away by next June.

The warning came from chairman Michel David-Weill, who said he will only give approval for the float if Wasserstein can win over all Lazard's partners.

The deadline and $2.93bn valuation emerged in a statement from Eurazeo, the Paris-based Lazard family holding firm. Eurazeo, chaired like the bank by David-Weill, said its board had been informed of negotiations under way with regard to a stock market listing.

'The board authorised the pursuit of these negotiations, with a view to reaching an agreement which would allow the listing to take place before 30 June 2005, and Eurazeo to receive a 100% cash payment of $784m,' the company said. The statement gives the first clear indication of the perceived value of Lazard Freres & Co LLC, active in London, Paris and New York.

But the arithmetic is complicated. Eurazeo's interest in Lazard comes in three parts. It has supplied $314m of Lazard's capital, which it would want back. It also owns 44m Lazard C shares and has the rights to 15.8% of the bank's profits.

A Eurazeo spokeswoman said the value of these interests totalled $784m and that, on this basis, the bank was valued at $2.93bn.