(Bloomberg) -- Lazard Inc. Chief Executive Officer Peter Orszag said next year will be an “inflection point” for the asset management side of the firm’s business, after it posted a small monthly drop in client holdings. 

The firm is working toward a “net zero” goal in 2025 where inflows balance outflows, Orszag said at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference. Lazard is confident of hitting net positive inflows over time as interest rates fall, investor sentiment shifts, it optimizes existing products and launches new ones, in addition to continually investing in talent, he said.

Lazard just reported $234.4 billion of assets under management for November, compared to $235.8 billion for the prior month. The firm outlined plans last year to double revenue and earnings by the end of the decade by boosting performance at its investment-banking and asset-management businesses.

The firm is entering 2025 with the highest ever won, but not funded, set of mandates for asset management flows — some $10 billion, according to Orszag. 

The company remains interested in acquisitions as it continues to grow, with any such deals likely “disproportionately” on the asset side, he said. Orszag has already said he’s looking for a private-credit target to grow the asset-management side of his firm.

“We’ve looked at more than three dozen opportunities, we have not found the right match yet,” he said. “We’re going to keep looking in a disciplined way to make sure that it’s accretive to shareholder value and it’s the right match.” The bank is also open to potential partnerships too, he said.

On the advisory side of the business, Lazard expects to be up significantly relative to last year, though may not quite top last year’s fourth quarter, Orszag said, adding that the firm is in “almost an ideal environment” as sponsors ramp up activity and increasingly consider larger deals.

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