Keefe Bruyette Plans IPO

Keefe Bruyette & Woods will become the next boutique investment bank to go public.

The investment banking and brokerage firm, which withdrew plans for an IPO in 1999, issued a statement Thursday saying that it plans to pursue an initial offering.

"A public offering will enhance the company's ability to pursue growth opportunities with additional capital and a publicly traded security", the company said in a statement. "KBW has decided on this course of action given the recent strength of the market, the company's strong performance and growth, and its continued optimism in the company's future."

The statement did not say if Keefe had hired an investment bank to run the IPO.

Over the past year, a number of investment banks have listed shares in public offerings. Lazard(LAZ) and Thomas Weisel(TWPG) have both become public in the past year. Just two weeks ago, Evercore, another boutique investment bank, filed for a much-anticipated public offering.

Financial stocks have fared well this year, which has prompted many of the firms to go public. But many of the stocks, which track closely to the overall equity market, have fallen in the past few weeks, as equity markets have rationalized and economists are becoming slightly more concerned about the U.S. economy.

Still, analysts think the prospects for the financial sector are good, particularly those companies that are involved in merger transactions.

"Mergers and acquisitions is really where you want to be right now," said David Menlow, president at IPOFinancial.com "I would love to see the private equity firms come public, because that is where the real money is."

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