Business books of the year

12 December 2007

Cashing in on her 13 years covering hedge funds for Bloomberg, the financial news service and publisher of her book, Burton persuaded 19 fund managers to speak at depth for “up close and personal” accounts of their rise to prominence in what has ballooned to a $1.7 trillion industry.

In an astute move that separates the book from others in its class, Burton also probes the most established players in the industry on who they believe are the rising stars of hedge fund management – then speaks to them, too, juxtaposing the experience of the veterans with the fresh energy of their protégés.

It is a lively read that cuts through the industry jargon to paint a straightforward and occasionally compelling picture of those at its heart.

Power struggles and hidden scandal
The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co
By William D Cohan
Doubleday/www.lasttycoons.com

Jon Ashworth

Today’s Wall Street titans have short career life-expectancies; Chuck Prince and Stan O’Neal are just the latest examples. In the middle of the current crisis, it is easy to forget that a past generation of bankers on Wall Street, as in the City of London, was both longer-lasting and respected for their counsel. Few now remember Felix Rohatyn, considered by some to be the greatest-ever investment banker. Yet as recently as the 1970s, this former refugee from Nazi-occupied France saved New York City from financial ruin.

Rohatyn surfaces in The Last Tycoons, in which William Cohan, a former investment banker charts the fortunes of the Lazard giants. Felix the Fixer was the rainmaker of his day, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in fees long before the advent of private equity. He is credited with successfully restructuring New York City’s debt in 1975, resolving the city’s fiscal crisis.

Over 30 years, Rohatyn helped label Lazard as Wall Street’s most enigmatic partnership. It all came unstuck in 2005 when Bruce Wasserstein outmanoeuvred the Lazard old-guard and took the firm public, turning a $30m personal investment into a stake worth $600m.