Michel David-Weill, the chairman and chief executive of Lazard, has criticised a trend for privately held companies to rush to their initial public offerings.

In an address to the annual symposium of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), he did not blame the investment banks directly. But, by highlighting what he hoped Lazards would do, he made it clear that he disapproved of the practice and banks complicit in such hasty IPOs.