Shares in KBW, the parent of investment banking boutique Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, rose 28% on their first day of trading, surpassing the success of rival Evercore's initial public offering in August.

KBW priced at $21 per share, the top end of its indicated range, raising $142.8m (€112m), and could raise another $20.5m from exercising an overallotment option. Shares hit an intra-day peak of $27.4 to close at $26.83 on Thursday. KBW and Merrill Lynch co-managed the offering. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz provided legal advice. The rise in KBW's share price easily tops the 19% increase in the price of Evercore shares on its first day of trading. Evercore also priced at $21, reaching $24 by market close on its debut, and closed at $31.54 on Thursday. Other investment bank flotations this year have been less lucrative. In July, Cowen Group priced at $16, below its marketed range, and immediately traded down further. Shares closed at $15.53 on Thursday. In February, shares in Thomas Weisel Partners opened at $15, and traded up on debut but then dropped below the offer price through the summer months. Shares closed at $19.96 on Thursday. KBW lost 67 members of staff – about a third of the total and many of them senior staff – in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Employee numbers have since risen to 430. A group of 20 Keefe, Bruyette employees sold shares worth $75m. The bank has been owned by its staff since its foundation in 1962.