JMP, the next successful boutique IPO?

JMP Group became the latest investment banking boutique to detail its plans for a public offering last month. The San Francisco-based bank, just eight years old, was founded by a bunch of Montgomery Securities survivors, and certainly hopes to follow in the footsteps of Greenhill, KBW and the many others. Financial services IPOs are certainly not frowned upon. Fortune notes that one goal is to cash out employees. With the 6 million shares JMP will sell to the public, insiders plan to sell 1.92 million shares. Make of that what you will--some might see it as a negative indicator. "If JMP pulls off the IPO, it will demonstrate that a mid-market firm doesn't even need to be all that successful for its partners to make money." JMP's managed assets plummeted recently due to "unsatisfactory performance...yet JMP makes its money selling financial advice to others. Go figure."  

For more:
- here's the brief from Fortune