Company: LAZ
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-007441
Chunk: 262

Company: Lazard, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 262
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, which offers a broad range of global investment solutions and investment and wealth management services in equity and fixed income strategies, asset allocation strategies, alternative investments and private equity funds to corporations, public funds, sovereign entities, endowments and foundations, labor funds, financial intermediaries and private wealth clients.

In addition, we record selected other activities in our Corporate segment, including the management of cash, investments, deferred tax assets, outstanding indebtedness and certain contingent obligations. We also invest our own capital from time to time, generally alongside capital of qualified institutional and individual investors in alternative investments or private equity investments, and make investments to seed our Asset Management strategies.

See “Business Segments” below for discussion of the adjusted operating results of our Financial Advisory, Asset Management and Corporate segments.

Business Environment and Outlook

Economic and global financial market conditions can materially affect our financial performance. As described above, our principal sources of revenue are derived from activities in our Financial Advisory and Asset Management business segments. Our Financial Advisory revenues are primarily dependent on the successful completion of merger, acquisition, sale, restructuring, capital raising or similar transactions, and our Asset Management revenues are primarily driven by the levels of AUM. Weak global economic and financial market conditions can result in a challenging business environment for M&A and capital-raising activity as well as our Asset Management business, however, may provide opportunities for our restructuring business. 

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While geopolitical uncertainty remains a consideration, we believe there are ongoing economic and market improvements relevant to our Financial Advisory and Asset Management businesses. The tailwinds for Financial Advisory continue to strengthen as technology and generative AI advances, the biotech revolution, global expansion in energy demand and efforts to derisk supply chains create opportunities for clients.  In the U.S., shifts in the antitrust and regulatory environments may positively influence M&A decisions, and while a further decline in interest rates would be beneficial, they are largely secondary to these other factors in driving activity, in our view. In Asset Management, we see new vectors for growth in wealth management and active ETFs, along with the potential for renewed interest in diversification beyond a handful of very large U.S. equities.

Our outlook with respect to our Financial Advisory and Asset Management businesses is described below.

•Financial Advisory—M&A announcements for deals greater than $500 million increased year-over-year and we remain actively engaged with our clients. The global scale and breadth of our Financial Advisory business, with strength in both the U.S. and Europe, as well as in public and private capital markets, enables