Sorry - how many? Is that really necessary?
Man Group has come out with the pricing for the New York IPO of its brokerage business, MF Global, valuing the business at between $4.6bn and $5bn.
But the list of advisers is what’s really astonishing in this tale. Here it is - the telephone directory-style list of banks on the Man float:
In the joint book-runner slot, we have Citi, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and UBS.
Joint lead managers are Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Co managers? Yes, must have some of them as well: ABN Amro Rothschild, Banc of America, BMO Capital Markets, HSBC, Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Sandler O’Neill and Wachovia.
Last but not least: Lazard as financial adviser.
Fresh from the “how many banks does it take to advise two other banks on M&A” shock with ABN Amro, we now have a grand total of 17 banks with a finger in the Man IPO pie. Because hedge funds are notoriously naive and ill-informed about the public markets, securities, valuation and so on.
What’s behind this? The obsession with league tables on the part of the banks? A convenient absence of institutions who aren’t conflicted who can write searching or critical research?
Both probably - but this one really stretches the limits of credulity.
