Specialized Advisory

Lazard is the preeminent financial advisor to governments and other sovereign entities around the world. We provide clients with tailored and innovative guidance on all aspects of public sector operations, including policy and financial issues.

Shareholder Advisory & Activism Defense serves corporate leaders and board directors with relevant, timely insights on shareholders and investor dynamics. We work closely with Lazard’s industry groups and practice specialists to increase our client’s preparedness for activist investors or unsolicited takeover attempts, and to build shareholder support for strategic transactions.

We conduct strategic assessments of each client’s shareholder base, leveraging our proprietary databases, sophisticated data analytics, and the combined expertise of our team. Our thoughtful and tailored shareholder analysis also helps to inform key strategic events under evaluation, including M&A or a change in capital allocation priorities. Our key capabilities include:

Activist Engagement and Unsolicited Defense
We help our clients respond to activist shareholders or hostile approaches through a bespoke process of evaluating the company’s potential vulnerabilities, analysis of shareholders’ positioning and perspectives, and assessment of alternatives available to the company.

Corporate Preparedness (including Defense)
Our team applies decades of experience and lessons learned from hundreds of campaigns to help clients assess potential areas of vulnerability and develop response actions.

Strategic Investor Relations Advisory
We work with companies to augment IR programs and intensify shareholder base support, applying data-centric investor intelligence tools to help companies have more effective shareholder engagement.

Share Register Analysis
Our in-depth analysis of share ownership provides shareholder register analysis, daily tracking of trading dynamics at critical times, and AGM voting intelligence.
Investor Study (Makinson Cowell)

Our proprietary Investor Study provides a comprehensive and impartial assessment of a company, with a view of how investors perceive its business, competitive positions, finances, leadership and Board, communications and the valuation of its shares.

ESG Advisory
We assess our client’s ESG strategy and advise on optimal messaging to public shareholders, tailoring the communications strategy to incorporate a range of investor approaches to responsible investing and views on corporate governance.

Trading Analytics
We conduct strategic assessments and monitoring of each client’s shareholder base, leveraging our proprietary databases, sophisticated data analytics, and the combined expertise of our team.