Lazard eyes debt and credit market growth

The bank’s placement and advisory business is pushing further into credit and debt strategies with the appointment of Christopher Mulshine in New York.

Investment banking group Lazard has appointed Christopher Mulshine, a debt and credit specialist, to its fundraising unit.

Mulshine joins in New York as a managing director. He is a veteran of Credit Suisse, where he was managing director and ‘head of capital introductions’, and UBS, where he was deputy head of ‘capital introductions’, according to a statement from Lazard.

Mulshine’s arrival at Lazard will “further bolster” the firm’s expertise in credit and debt strategies, an area where the firm is experiencing increasing client demand, William Riddle, head of Lazard’s private capital advisory group, said in a statement.

Lazard would not comment on its existing activity in the credit and debt space, but the firm is understood to be currently in the market with a number of fund offerings. in the space. The firm’s website refers only to private equity and real estate as two areas of fundraising expertise.

Like many of its competitors, Lazard’s private capital unit acts as a placement agent for firms looking to raise funds, and serves as an advisor on secondary transactions and fund restructurings.

Elsewhere in the placement agent and advisory world, London-headquartered Campbell Lutyens recently told sister title PEI that it intends to grow its New York staff headcount from 12 to 20. The firm is reacting to increasing demand from US general partners to raise capital in Asia and Europe. Placement agents can provide key assistance from a regulatory, linguistic and cultural standpoint, said managing partner and chief executive officer Andrew Sealey.

Earlier in the month, MVision Private Equity Advisers appointed industry veteran Loren Boston to its New York office.