COMPANY TOWN

Film: Consortium de Realisation, the new entity that owns MGM after the restructuring by French bank Credit Lyonnais, said it has retained investment bank Lazard Freres for advice on divestiture strategies. The Credit Lyonnais affiliate said no decision has been made on when or how a divestiture will occur and that no decision will be made until Lazard submits a report on the matter. Credit Lyonnais of France acquired the studio in 1992 when it foreclosed on Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti. MGM has been given a boost with back-to-back hits in “Get Shorty” and the new James Bond film “GoldenEye.” Lazard assumes an advisory role that Creative Artists Agency had been playing under former agency Chairman Michael S. Ovitz. That ended when Ovitz left CAA to join Walt Disney Co. as president.