Morningstar How low can you go?

Lazard’s IPO generated all the headlines last week. But the debut of Morningstar, the mutual fund data business, also raised eyebrows on Wall Street. That’s mainly because the $140m deal generated so few fees. The gross spread on the offering, which like Google a year ago was done through an open auction, came in at 2%, or a third of the amount Lazard’s deal generated for its underwriters. Nobody in the investment banking industry wants to see this trend continue. So it is not surprising that m...