NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? Lazard Ltd. and a group of its current and former managing directors raised $590 million by selling 13 million shares, more than originally planned, to help pay off debt and fund expansion.

The investment bank run by Bruce Wasserstein sold 7 million shares, up from a planned 6 million, for $45.42 apiece, according to a statement from the New York-based company yesterday.

The managing directors sold 6 million shares at the same price. The shares rose $1.93, or 4.4 percent, to $45.42 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading today.

Lazard said in a November 21 filing that it would use the proceeds from the sale to repay debt and invest in its advisory and asset-management divisions. For the firm?s most-senior bankers, the sale is the first chance to sell stock they received in the May 2005 initial public offering. The shares have risen 82 percent since they were sold for $25 apiece.

At the time of the IPO, the firm?s managing directors and former managing directors were given stakes in a holding company and restricted from converting those into common stock until 2008.

The restriction was waived for this sale, allowing the directors to convert and sell 6 million shares, or 9.7 percent of their total holdings.

Wasserstein, 58, isn?t selling shares in the offering. The selling shareholders include five executive officers and more than 100 managing directors and former managing directors.

The investment banks managing the offering, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lazard Capital Markets, have a 30-day option to sell an additional 1.95 million shares to meet demand.