Wall Street Giants Battle a Secret Deal Whisperer on Tech IPOs

When Pagerduty Inc. hired investment banks for its initial public offering earlier this year, Morgan Stanley turned the conversation to another possible outcome: a sale of the startup.

The Wall Street giant wanted to make sure it would still be an adviser if Pagerduty ended up getting acquired instead of listing on the New York Stock Exchange as planned.

Frank Quattrone, co-founder and executive chairman of Qatalyst (left), and George Boutros, chief executive officer of Qatalyst (right).

Source: Qatalyst

Morgan Stanley’s bid for reassurance was driven in part by an increasing threat from boutique investment banks, in particular Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners, which have become adept at finding acquisition deals for technology companies in the final stages of IPOs. ...