By Lananh Nguyen and Nupur Anand
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investment bank Lazard (NYSE:) CEO Peter Orszag predicted deal-making momentum would continue next year, helped by private equity activity.
Wall Street executives have expressed optimism that the new Trump administration will usher in deregulation and greater openness to mergers and acquisitions. The bullish views come as the investment banking business recovers from a two-year dry spell.
“There were a lot of big transactions that were discussed informally that are now more about ‘let’s see if we can actually make this happen,’ and that’s pretty much across the board,” Orszag said in an interview with Reuters NEXT. conference in New York.
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, has said he will impose 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as additional duties on Chinese goods, which would hit companies in sectors from automotive to retail . led to concern among investors.
“There may have been a lot of rhetoric, but if you’re going to govern and make sure that inflation doesn’t start to rise, things will be done in a more tempered way,” Orszag said.
He was also optimistic about Lazard’s prospects for next year.
New York-based Lazard’s financial advisory revenue rose 39% to $371 million in the third quarter, pushing revenue up 50% to $785 million.
According to data from Dealogic, Lazard was the ninth most active investment bank in global M&A transactions in the first nine months of the year, ranked by fees.
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