Facebook's Banker Dream Team Grows
It's another week, and another 25 banks have joined the Facebook's initial public offering party, bringing the grand total of financial backers to 31.
.It's another week, and another 25 banks have joined the Facebook's initial public offering party, bringing the grand total of financial backers to 31.
Whoa whoa whoa -- Why on Earth does Mark Zuckerberg and company need nearly three dozen banks to prepare its stock offering? First of all, keep in mind that this is also a brand-building exercise for Facebook, so it's chosen to stack its list with minority and women-owned banks. Second, it's a big IPO, and according to Dow Jones, "It's not unusual for 25 to 30 banks to work on large offerings such as Facebook's." So why not offer a long and diverse roster of players to choose from? Facebook's army of bankers looks like this:
The Original Six:
- Morgan Stanley
- JPMorgan Chase
- Goldman Sachs
- Bank of America
- Merrill Lynch
- Barclays Capital
- Allen & Co.
The Blithe Twenty-Five:
- Citigroup
- Credit Suisse Group
- Deutsche Bank
- RBC Capital Markets
- Wells Fargo
- Blaylock Robert Van
- BMO Capital Markets
- C.L. King & Associates
- Cabrera Capital Markets
- CastleOak Securities L.P.
- Cowen & Co.
- Lazard Capital Markets
- Lebenthal & Co.
- Loop Capital Markets
- M.R. Beal & Co.
- Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc.
- Muriel Siebert & Co.
- Oppenheimer & Co.
- Pacific Crest Securities
- Piper Jaffray & Co.
- Raymond James & Associates
- Samuel A. Ramirez & Co.
- Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.
- The Williams Capital Group
- William Blair & Co.