Battle against the bulge

The bulge brackets used to scorn deals below $1 billion, but now are vying heavily for that business. First, there is a dearth of deal revenue from the big companies. Second, many of the bulge bracket names built out their biotech teams during the genomics bubble in response to the growth in underwriting business. While most pared back during the bear market, they still remain committed to biotech and have mouths to feed there.

"A lot of these bankers haven't been fed in two years, and a lot of them will take anything that will put revenue next to their name," said Joseph Dougherty, a former sellside analyst who's now managing director at Seaview Securities, one of the latest boutique upstarts...