A stinging attack on Lazard chief executive Bruce Wasserstein's decision to take the bank public was launched yesterday by Bernard Sainte-Marie, the last descendant of the founding brothers to work at the bank who leaves today after 32 years.

In an email sent to hundreds of staff at Lazard seen by Financial News, Sainte-Marie described the initial public offering as "an even bolder act of financial wizardry than the sale of Wasserstein Perella", wished the senior bankers "every success...in their task of working down Lazard's mountain of debt", and noted ruefully that with his departure there will be no descendants of the founding Lazard brothers left working at the bank.