Market Watch

The announcement comes as worries in the markets persist as to whether Greece may be forced to restructure its mountain of debt, even after it received a 110 billion-euro ($146 billion) bailout package from its euro-zone partners and the International Monetary Fund.

Greece has pledged to reduce its deficit to below 3% of gross domestic product by 2014. Its deficit was at least 13.6% of GDP last year.

"Lazard confirms that it has been hired to assist the Greek authorities," a Lazard spokesman told MarketWatch on Tuesday. "It is to be noted that a restructuring of Greek debt has never been an option to be considered."

Lazard /quotes/comstock/13*!laz/quotes/nls/laz (LAZ 39.65, +0.99, +2.56%) is a financial advisory and asset management firm.

Officials from Greece and other euro-zone nations have rejected the idea of a restructuring.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Monday any discussions of debt restructuring should be prevented so as not to hurt market confidence, according to Dow Jones Newswires.