NO one on Wall Street is busier during the current subprime mortgage meltdown than Gary Parr, the deputy chairman of Lazard, the investment bank hired by China Investment Corporation; China Development Bank; mortgage lender New Century Financial and – about 10 days ago – Bear Stearns.
Without a doubt, the 50-year-old Parr is the go-to investment banker of the moment.
Yet Parr shares an equal fascination with the media and Hollywood. His friends include a list of notable movie stars including Tony Award winner Frank Langella and Whoopi Goldberg.
In January, while handling some of the most complicated Wall Street subprime bailout transactions, Parr still found time to attend the most coveted Sundance Film Festival parties. He can also be seen around town with his many friends in the news media. For example, he has brought guests – including CNBC’s Michele Caruso-Cabrera and Laurie Dhue, formerly of the Fox News Channel – to his movie premieres and high-end social events.
The divorced father of two grown kids, a boy and a girl, Parr has been a financial backer of a number of independent films including “Proof,” which starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, and “Home at the End of the World,” which featured a then barely-known Colin Farrell and veteran actor Sissy Spacek.
Parr has also spent a lot of his well-earned wealth on real estate. His 24,000-square foot mansion in leafy Tuxedo Park, NY, has to be one of the largest in the state. Complete with 26 bedrooms and 11½ baths, it is set amid 6.2 acres, according to Orange County real estate records, which lists the value of the home and land at $5 million.
Richard Wilner
The Bear bug
Can the Bear Stearns sudden wipe-out happen elsewhere on Wall Street?
Well, traders, brokers and bankers at smaller firms are planning to take personal steps to insure that if their company evaporates because of the credit crunch they will not be left holding a bag full of worthless stock certificates suitable for wallpapering.
Professionals at Jefferies & Company, Cowen Group and other smaller brokers – which are showing no signs of extraordinary strain, although their shares have dropped along with the sector heavyweights – tell The Post they will sell some of the company stock they own as soon as they can.
“I’ll sell a little at a time as the market starts to creep back up so I am more diversified,” one employee at Jefferies said on Thursday.
Jefferies, which closed at $16.61 last week, is off its 52-week high of $33.80.
Cowen closed the week at $7.39, well below its 52-week peak of $19.91.
The mood inside Jefferies, the employee said, is unsettled as colleagues look for signs of any improvement in the widespread credit crisis.
“The days of un restrained spending on second homes, nice boats and big ticket items have been suspended,” said the pro. “Business is down at the nearby restaurants, and people here are more cautious about letting go of their money.” John Aidan Byrne
business@nypost.com