"There is money available to invest in deals," one investment banker said.

Also in recent years many firms have turned heavily to merchant banking, in which they invest their own money in deals.

He invested in several fraudulent deals and lied about those deals to regulators.

He said his firm planned to invest $70 to $80 million this year, possibly in several deals on Long Island.

After all, while the partners are not forced to, many of them invest their earnings in Lazard-sponsored merchant-banking deals.

Course, I never invest in deals like that myself.

And he suggests waiting at least a few quarters before investing in talent-scout deals.

Band members invest in deals directly; there is no pooling of resources or voting.

Ted played cards the way he invested in deals: analytically, squeezing out the nickels.

Suddenly that side of the enterprise required hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in deals, too.