Lazard has emerged as one of the advisers to Simon Property Group on the largest US commercial real estate acquisition since the height of the boom in 2007, at a time when independent advisory firms are enjoying a larger share of the global M&A fee pool.

Simon Property, the largest public US real estate company, said in a statement yesterday that it had made a written offer to acquire rival General Growth Properties in a fully financed transaction that includes $9bn (€6.5bn) in cash.