Overcrowding?

This morning's IFR US ECM Briefing reported on another significant IPO trend—the fact that over time it has become more common for IPO issuers to appoint several co-managers.  IFR cites data from Thomson Reuters, noting that, "It takes more than three bookrunners to take a company public in 2014, versus just one or two bookrunners handling the process a decade ago with a team of co-managers helping the process.  In fact, five or more banks claimed joint bookrunner posts on 20% of this year's pricings. The average IPO priced in 2014 featured 3.1 bookrunners, down from 3.5 books per deal last year."  If one looks further back, say to 2000, according to Thomson Reuters data, approximately 92% of US IPOs involved a sole bookrunner and the maximum number on any deal was four.  Last year just 9% involved a single bookrunner, growing to 17% in 2014.