Investment bank Lazard Ltd. seem to gain fruit from its lucrative initial public offering that may cost as much as $822.5 million and end a 157-year family control over the company.

The latest developments disappoint Lazard’s Chairman Michel David- Weill who tried his best to save the company from going public. Lazard’s CEO Bruce Wasserstein, known for getting a full price for anything he sells, said the IPO would bring $1.6 billion to David-Weill and his allies.

The era of family holding will end up with the initial public offering promised to be held by the end of 2005 by Wasserstein who sold Wasserstein, Perella & Co. to Frankfurt-based Dresdner Bank AG for $1.37 billion in stock in September 2000.

Lazard is expected to sell 30.4 million Class A shares at $25 to $27 each with a value of as much as $2.6 billion.

Lazard was founded by Alexandre, Elie and Simon Lazard in in New Orleans in 1848. Later the company was led by Alexandre Weill, an ancestor of Michel David-Weill, who joined it in 1856, as the founders did not have male heirs.

The company employed 2,339 people at the end of 2004. Lazard’s net income in 2004 amounted to $29.5 million on revenue of $1.1 billion.