Private Equity News & Analysis

Lazard enters mid-market with Goldsmith Agio buy(2)

Lazard, the storied financial advisory firm, today said it was acquiring Goldsmith Agio Helms & Lynner, a US middle-market investment bank and major participant in the private equity market.

-

In yet another sign of consolidation among US middle-market investment banks, Lazard today said it was buying Goldsmith Agio Helms & Lynner, the US middle-market investment bank.

The move comes two years after PNC Financial Services Group bought middle-market investment bank Harris Williams and a year after it was announced that Wells Fargo would buy Barrington Associates.

The Lazard deal involves cash and stock. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Goldsmith Agio, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has approximately 90 professionals. The firm will continue to be led by co-chief executives Michael McFadden and David Solomon, and by chairman Jack Helms.

The acquired firm will “serve as the cornerstone of Lazard’s middle market financial advisory business,” according to a statement.

Lazard recently said it planned to acquire 50 percent of MBA and Raiffeisen Investment, advisory firms prominent in Latin America and Russia/Eastern Europe, respectively.