Even during the festive period, it is not difficult to track down equity managers who are less than impressed by suggestions that the time it takes to bring companies to market through an initial public offering should be halved.

Several leading investment banks, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, have come up with the jolly wheeze of cutting down the offer period from five weeks to a fortnight, mainly by ending the "pre-marketing" period, before road shows commence, according to a report in the Financial Times this morning.