NEW YORK - Investment bank Lazard saw its shares steady after the firm ended its 156-year-old reign as a privately held financial group.
Shares were holding at the initial price of 25 dollars in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a source close to the process late Wednesday.
Started in the United States with a long history in finance in Paris and London, Lazard is hoping to sell millions of shares in a move that could raise about 945 million dollars (729 million euros).
The deal is expected to be the highest-profile transaction by a banking firm since Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs itself went public in 1999.
The offering is a victory for Lazard's chief executive, Bruce Wasserstein, whose IPO initiative had been opposed by Lazard chairman Michel David-Weill, a member of the bank's founding families.
The company traces its origins to 1848 when the Lazard brothers of France formed Lazard Freres and Company as a dry-goods business in New Orleans.
The brothers moved to the gold-rush town of San Francisco, where they opened a business selling imported goods and exporting gold bullion.
The company opened offices in Paris and London in 1858 and 1870, respectively, and by 1876 Lazard had become solely focused on providing financial services.
Lazard marks a trend of high profile deals from storied institutions going public. Waiting in the wings are public debuts of the New York Stock Exchange through its merger with Archipelago as well as a planned IPO from the Chicago Board of Trade planned for later this year.
05/05/2005 16:03 GMT