Lepercq Snares Four From WR Lazard for First Municipal Venture

In its first foray into the world of municipal finance, New York-based Lepercq, de Neuflize & Co. has hired four financial advisory professionals from WR Lazard, Laidlaw & Luther Inc.

In the hires, announced yesterday, Lepercq snared Lazard's chief financial officer Stephen Cate, senior vice president Joel Cooper, Michael Cook, and Michael Tsukahara. The group will target municipal advisory clients with an eye to capitalize on their expertise in tax lien securitization, privatization, outsourcing, and other asset management techniques, the firm said. Cate and Cooper will hold the title of managing director.

"The focus will be on the East Coast, because that is where their expertise and reputation are," said Michael Connelley, president of Lepercq Capital Management. "But I can envision expanding across the nation or possibly internationally." Currently, Lepercq primarily specializes in corporate finance.

"Governments are facing ever-increasing pressures to operate more efficiently and more intelligently," said the firm's president, Francois Letaconnoux, in a statement. "Our new government finance group has been ahead of the curve in developing strategies that address these pressures."

For example, while at WR Lazard, the four professionals advised New York City and Jersey City on tax lien securitizations and have worked with federal agencies on disposition of real estate loan portfolios, Lepercq de Neuflize said.

"A common theme runs through all of our work, and it is this: competition works," Cooper said in the statement. "In our view, one of the greatest challenges facing America today is to make competition work on behalf of government."

Officials at WR Lazard did not return calls seeking comment.

New York City-based Lepercq de Neuflize was established in 1948.

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