Keefe's Latest IPO Dream

The company had already cancelled an IPO once, in 1999, shortly before the company's then CEO, James McDermott, was charged with giving his girlfriend, a former porn star, insider trading tips.

The latest attempt at selling shares, however, represents a victory of sorts for Keefe, which lost 67 employees, nearly half of its New York office, in the Sept. 11 terror attack on the World Trade Center. The firm has rebuilt itself and regained its reputation as one of the premier investment banks for advising on financial-services mergers.

Still, some on Wall Street say it's more than a coincidence that Keefe waited until after Evercore priced its IPO on Thursday night to file its prospectus. There was great deal of speculation on Wall Street about how Evercore's IPO would fare given the poor performance of so many other IPOs the past two months. But the IPO for Evercore, co-founded by Roger Altman, a former U.S. deputy treasury secretary, surpassed expectations.

The company raised $83 million, pricing shares above the anticipated range of $18 to $20 at $21a share. In early trading, shares were up nearly 25% to $25.80.

"It's hard to believe that there wasn't some relationship" between the Evercore pricing and the Keefe Bruyette filing, says Frederick C. Lane, chairman and CEO of independent investment bank Lane Berry.