NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Bermuda-based investment bank Lazard Ltd. reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates in the first earnings report since chief executive officer Bruce Wasserstein died.

Third-quarter earnings fell 4.1 percent to $52.5 million, or 41 cents a share, from $54.8 million, or 44 cents, in the same period a year earlier, the company said yesterday in a statement. Profit was expected to be 37 cents, based on the average estimate of 12 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Interim CEO Steven Golub takes over as the firm is starting to emerge from a slowdown in mergers and acquisitions. Lazard has been using its restructuring advisory business to counter the weakness in M&A, advising on nine of the top 10 bankruptcies this year.

Lazard fell $1.12, or 2.8 percent, to $38.70 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The shares have gained 30 percent this year after losing 27 percent in 2008.

Wasserstein, the preeminent Wall Street dealmaker who took Lazard public in 2005, died on October 14 at 61. His death set off a succession contest at the 161-year-old institution that he unified and transformed into a publicly traded company.

Golub, who has been at Lazard for 25 years, has served as chief financial officer and vice-chairman, and helped Wasserstein present the firm's financial results to analysts after the company went public. He continues to do advisory work for clients, counseling Trane Inc. on its $10 billion sale to refrigeration equipment maker Ingersoll-Rand Co. last year.

Companies completed $291 billion of deals in the third quarter, less than half of the $615 billion in the third quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Lazard advised the unsecured creditors of Citadel Broadcasting Group, lenders to Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc., and Charter Communications Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on their bankruptcies.

Current and former Lazard employees own half of the firm through a holding company called LAZ-MD. Wasserstein's family trust owns about 16.2 million shares, or about 11 percent.

Because the stakes owned by employees can be converted into common stock, the company reports earnings as though the stakes were fully exchanged instead of treating them as minority interest.