NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Lazard Ltd., the biggest non-bank merger adviser, said chief financial officer Michael Castellano will retire next year, replaced by Matthieu Bucaille.

Castellano intends to retire on March 31, 2011, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said yesterday in a statement. Bucaille, currently deputy chief executive officer of Lazard Freres Banque in Paris, will transfer to the New York office in the third quarter of 2010 and take over as CFO on April 1, 2011, according to the statement.

Castellano, 63, has served as Lazard's CFO since 2001, a year after the firm merged its New York, Paris and London offices into a single partnership. He helped the firm transition to a public company when then-CEO Bruce Wasserstein led an initial public offering in 2005.

"Mike Castellano is one of the most respected CFOs in our industry," CEO Kenneth Jacobs said in the statement. "We greatly appreciate all that he has accomplished as an important member of our senior management team in structuring Lazard's enviable financial position and an outstanding global finance team."

Bucaille, 50, joined Lazard in 1989, rising to partner in 1998. In addition to advising clients on mergers and divestitures, Bucaille has had oversight of Lazard France's support functions for the advisory and asset-management businesses, including finance, information technology and human resources, according to the statement.