Lazard Freres Co

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has begun an inquiry into transactions with its former financial adviser, Lazard Freres & Co., to determine if the firm substantially overcharged it for U.S. Treasury securities in 1992 and 1993. MTA officials said in interviews that Lazard persuaded the agency to forgo competitive bidding and instead buy the securities from Lazard. Ronny J.

Shares of Lazard fell on their first day of trading Thursday as underwriters including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. failed to keep the stock above its sale price. The shares, priced at $25 late Wednesday, declined $1, or 4%, to $24 on the New York Stock Exchange. The American Stock Exchange's securities broker/dealer index, which includes Lazard rivals such as Morgan Stanley and Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., fell 0.4%.

Lazard Freres & Co. said it agreed to buy a 49.9% stake in Costa Mesa-based ARV Assisted Living for about $135 million, becoming the latest Wall Street investor to buy into a nursing home operator. Under the terms, Lazard Freres will buy 9.6 million newly issued shares of ARV for $14 each through June 1999. ARV shares rose 94 cents to close at $12.31 on Nasdaq.. Less than two months ago, Goldman, Sachs & Co. bought retirement home operator Integrated Living Communities Inc.

Privately held investment banking giant Lazard may be moving closer to joining the ranks of publicly traded companies, sources say. Bruce Wasserstein, the firm's chief, this week will lay out plans to take Lazard public in a transaction that would value the company at about $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said Monday.

United Dominion Realty Trust Inc., the nation's second-largest apartment firm, said it agreed to buy Lazard Freres & Co.'s American Apartment Communities for $787 million, including the assumption of $451 million in debt, in a deal that would give it a bigger presence in West Coast markets. The purchase of San Francisco-based American Apartment would increase United Dominion's holdings by 14,140 apartments, or 20%, to 86,000. The Richmond, Va.

An Orange County Superior Court judge ordered a New York investment firm to hold off on an acquisition until after a trial later this summer on the firm's related legal dispute with Costa Mesa-based ARV Assisted Living Inc. Last week, Judge John C. Woolley granted ARV's request that the investment firm--an affiliate of Lazard Freres & Co.--be temporarily barred from completing its purchase of Louisville-based Atria Communities Inc.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. said Monday that a Superior Court judge has ruled that a Lazard Freres & Co. affiliate can acquire more than 49.9% of the Costa Mesa-based developer of housing for the elderly. The affiliate already owns 48% of the company. In October, ARV set in place a "poison pill" plan in an effort to prevent a possible hostile takeover by the affiliate. The relationship between the two companies soured when Lazard tried in April to buy ARV competitor Atria Communities Inc.

Emeritus Corp. said Friday that it has dropped its $313-million takeover bid for ARV Assisted Living Inc. in Costa Mesa after a California court rejected the Seattle company's bid to overturn a series of transactions that gave ARV allies a large stake in the company. Emeritus, which said in October that it wanted to buy ARV, was offering $17.50 a share and assumption of debt for the assisted living services company.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. said its chief financial officer resigned just two weeks after joining the company. ARV issued a brief statement late Friday saying that CFO Victor Streufert resigned for "personal reasons." The Costa Mesa-based company announced his appointment on Oct. 20. Streufert and ARV officials weren't available to comment. ARV, a developer of housing for the elderly, on Oct. 21 said it implemented a "poison pill" anti-takeover plan to prevent a Lazard Freres & Co.

Muni Bond Fraud Settlement Expected: Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lazard Freres & Co. are close to a settlement with regulators over allegations of conflicts of interest and fraud in municipal bond underwritings in Massachusetts, people familiar with the agreement said. Merrill, the biggest U.S. securities firm, and Lazard, one of the most lucrative investment banking partnerships, will pay a total of about $20 million to settle civil charges that they violated federal fraud statutes, they said.

Lazard, the world's largest investment banking partnership, is considering an initial public stock offering and has held discussions with five investment banks about a share sale, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. An IPO would value the bank, headed by Bruce Wasserstein, 56, at about $3 billion, the people said. The company, run from New York, London and Paris, met bankers from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup Inc. and Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.

Bruce Wasserstein, the New York banker tapped to run Lazard, the largest privately held investment bank, is attempting to placate partners in Paris after some threatened to quit, company officials said. Partners in Paris meet today to approve changes in the firm's organization, a prelude to a full vote later this week to transfer control to Wasserstein from Michel David-Weill.

The owners of Santa Monica's Arboretum Gateway, one of the city's newest office buildings, on Thursday announced the sale of the six-story structure to an affiliate of the investment firm Lazard Freres. Company officials declined to reveal a purchase price, but people familiar with the deal say it was about $80 million. The buyer, Commonwealth Atlantic Properties Inc. of Washington, paid about $400 a square foot--one of the largest amounts ever for a major Los Angeles area office building.

ARV Assisted Living Inc., a Costa Mesa developer of housing for the elderly, said it settled all outstanding legal disputes with a Lazard Freres & Co. affiliate that owns 48% of ARV. The settlement ends more than a year of uncertainty about the future of ARV, which has sent its stock price plunging 63% over the last 12 months. The relationship between the two soured in April 1998 when the Lazard affiliate agreed to buy ARV competitor Atria Communities Inc.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. said Friday that its largest shareholder--a Lazard Freres & Co. affiliate--has filed a lawsuit seeking to have the Costa Mesa company's annual meeting declared invalid. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware state court by Prometheus Assisted Living LLC, claimed ARV held the meeting improperly last summer.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. said Monday that a Superior Court judge has ruled that a Lazard Freres & Co. affiliate can acquire more than 49.9% of the Costa Mesa-based developer of housing for the elderly. The affiliate already owns 48% of the company. In October, ARV set in place a "poison pill" plan in an effort to prevent a possible hostile takeover by the affiliate. The relationship between the two companies soured when Lazard tried in April to buy ARV competitor Atria Communities Inc.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. said Friday that its largest shareholder--a Lazard Freres & Co. affiliate--has filed a lawsuit seeking to have the Costa Mesa company's annual meeting declared invalid. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware state court by Prometheus Assisted Living LLC, claimed ARV held the meeting improperly last summer.

Firing the latest salvo in a legal dispute with ARV Assisted Living LLC in Costa Mesa, New York investment house Lazard Freres & Co. contended Tuesday that one of its affiliates was entitled to acquire another assisted-living firm without seeking ARV's approval. Lazard spelled out its position in documents filed Tuesday in response to ARV's Superior Court lawsuit alleging that the investment firm was moving into the assisted-living market and leaving ARV behind. A Lazard affiliate holds a 47.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. said its chief financial officer resigned just two weeks after joining the company. ARV issued a brief statement late Friday saying that CFO Victor Streufert resigned for "personal reasons." The Costa Mesa-based company announced his appointment on Oct. 20. Streufert and ARV officials weren't available to comment. ARV, a developer of housing for the elderly, on Oct. 21 said it implemented a "poison pill" anti-takeover plan to prevent a Lazard Freres & Co.

ARV Assisted Living Inc. set in place a "poison pill" plan, saying Wednesday that it wants to prevent a possible hostile takeover by a Lazard Freres & Co. affiliate that already owns 48% of the company. Costa Mesa-based ARV, a developer of housing for the elderly, said it took the action before the expiration of an agreement that prevents the Lazard Freres unit from boosting its take in ARV. The agreement expires Jan. 11.