Shutdown fear grows at Lazard Capital

Lazard Capital Management employees are fuming as the beleaguered brokerage firm fights rumors of a shutdown.

The closely held New York company denies it’s closing up shop, but staffers said recent management moves tell a different story.

“To say we’re pissed is an understatement,” one insider told The Post.

In recent weeks, the financial firm implemented a new severance plan and ended retirement contributions, adding to speculation that it’s preparing to wind down.

The firm, which boasts a ritzy Rockefeller Center address, is looking to layoffs to cut costs, particularly in equity sales, trading and research, according to sources.

Like its peers, the company’s trading commissions are getting squeezed.

“We’ve effectively done zero business for the past several months,” one employee said.

Insiders said the firm has been pushing employees out the door, telling them they may not be eligible for severance pay later if they pass up outside job offers now. In some cases, it has been arranging for staff to interview at other firms, sources added.

As a result, the company, which had around 200 employees, has seen a growing exodus. Around a dozen traders and analysts are headed to Stephens Inc., while FBR has hired nearly 30 staffers, sources said.

The first public sign of trouble emerged in May, when Lazard Capital announced that it was exploring options, including a sale.

But employees have been on edge since last October, when managing directors at a dinner said they were looking at ways of cleaning up the firm’s murky ownership structure, possibly through a management-led buyout.

Indeed, some employees blame the company’s Byzantine relationship with its former affiliate, Lazard Ltd., for its current woes.

While Lazard Capital was spun off as a separate company in 2005, public filings hint at a nebulous economic relationship.

Lazard Ltd., an advisory company, collects as much as $10 million annually in so-called transfer payments from its former affiliate, according to one source.

Lazard Capital has around $73 million in equity, down from $150 million in 2005, according to one source.

Making matters murkier, Lazard Capital is still owned by current and former Lazard Ltd. employees. That includes Barry Ridings, who sits on the board of Lazard Capital and is a partner of Lazard Ltd.

“We maintain an arm’s length relationship,” insisted one senior executive.

Reps for both firms declined to comment.

Late Lazard boss Bruce Wasserstein spun off Lazard Capital so he could take Lazard Ltd. public.