Lazard’s Record-Setting Medco Fee
Bermuda’s Lazard Ltd.’s fee for advising Medco Health Solutions Inc. on its takeover by Express Scripts Inc. is the advisory firm’s biggest in a decade, according to researcher Freeman & Co released yesterday [Apr.3].
Medco agreed to pay Lazard, the largest independent merger adviser, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. about $35 million each if its takeover by Express Scripts was completed, according to a November 18 regulatory filing.
The US Federal Trade Commission approved the $29.1 billion purchase by a 3-1 vote on Tuesday.
That amount would be the biggest that Hamilton-based Lazard has received since it got an estimated $66 million fee for advising DHL on its sale to Deutsche Post AG about 10 years ago, said Lam Nguyen, a director at New York-based Freeman. It is also Lazard’s biggest publicly disclosed fee, he said.
The sum may be a boon to Lazard, whose revenue from mergers and acquisitions fell 36 percent to $167.1 million in the fourth quarter.
Lazard ranks 13th for advising global deals this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Morgan Stanley is the top adviser and JPMorgan is in second place.
