Lazard Advising Greece

Lazard Advising Greece

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/laza…

May 5, 6:26 a.m. | Updated Lazard said on Tuesday that is advising Greece as it works to complete an extensive bailout loan from the European Union to avoid defaulting on its debt.

The investment bank has a long history of advising governments on reorganizing their finances, including assignments like Ivory Coast and Ecuador. But a Lazard spokesman wrote in an e-mailed statement to DealBook that the Greece assignment is different and that a debt restructuring — which would constitute a default — is considered off the table.

“Lazard confirms that it has been hired to assist the Greek authorities,” the spokesman wrote. “It is to be noted that a restructuring of Greek debt has never been an option to be considered.”

The assignment will almost certainly be handled by a team led by Matthieu Pigasse, the chief executive of Lazard Paris and a former French government official, and Michele Lamarche, the head of Lazard’s international government advisory team. Mr. Pigasse and Ms. Lamarche have handled much of the firm’s sovereign advisory work, including Ivory Coast’s restructuring of debt to Paris Club creditors and under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program; Ecuador in a debt buyback after intentionally defaulting on $3.2 billion in Global bonds in December 2008; and Nicaragua in a $1.4 billion debt buyback.

Lazard has also done work for Papua New Guinea, Morocco and Argentina.

Greece has lined up 110 billion euros, or $146 billion, in loans over the next three years. The country in return has pledged stringent austerity measures that amount to 30 billion euros over the next three years, a plan that so far has earned the ire of its populace.

Some analysts doubt that Greece can avoid a default, however. From Tuesday’s New York Times:

Stéphane Deo, an economist at UBS in London, said he thought the aid package would initially be successful, but that Greece could run into trouble again in a few years, when it sought to issue bonds on the open market.

“At some point, a debt restructuring remains unavoidable,” Mr. Deo said in a research note.

Lazard’s hiring by Greece was first reported by EuroWeek and was flagged by Felix Salmon and then Zero Hedge.

– Michael J. de la Merced

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