Rush for the exits

IN MOST sports, you know that a match is effectively over when the fans start heading for the exits. In finance, however, it is often the players that are anxious to beat the rush. So it is with America's mid-sized investment banks, many of which specialise in underwriting initial public offerings of equity for small high-tech firms. Amid signs that the IPO market is cooling, many of these firms are selling out. On June 9th, Robertson, Stephens, a San Francisco firm specialising in nascent health-care and technology companies, joined the list. America's third-biggest commercial bank, BankAmerica, is buying it for $540m.