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In M&A, the period covered by the awards can be summarised in one word: complexity. It is rare that both M&A and restructuring are booming at the same time, but this has been the case the past 18 months, and that has played to one firm’s strengths. Lazard wins this year’s award for North America’s best bank for advisory.
Lazard served as exclusive financial adviser to Heinz last year when it merged with Kraft Food to create the $115 billion combined company, the third-largest North American food and beverage company. “We don’t have a balance sheet – so we know the only reason we are hired is based on the quality of our advice,” says Matthew Lustig, Lazard’s head of investment banking, North America. “There is no ambiguity as to why we are there. It’s purely based on how we can advise on a deal with lots of interests.”
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Matthew Lustig, Lazard |
In a year of pulled deals, Lazard saw its market share of completed deal value more than double to 19% for the 12 months ending March 2016.