Smaller equity markets players make presence felt in land of the giants

* Cenkos catapulted into the top 10 in first quarter

* Helped clients to raise $1.84 bln from six deals

* Shore Capital's equity capital markets profit up 60 pct

* Boutique operators finding their niche

By Freya Berry

LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - In the land of the investmentbanking giants that stalk Europe's equity markets, a group oflesser-known advisory firms are treading on the toes of the bigboys.

Cenkos, a mid-market securities firm employing only117 people, has elbowed its way into the top 10 institutionsadvising on European share sales this quarter, helping itsclients to raise $1.84 billion from six deals, Reuters datashows.

Coming in at No.9 in terms of money raised, Cenkos hasclimbed above Barclays and tucked itself just behindCitigroup.

This time last year Cenkos stood 39th but rose to prominencewith its work on the June listing of British motoringorganisation AA and then took its place at the toptable after advising Haversham Holdings on March's 1.23 billionpound ($1.82 billion) purchase of British Car Auctions(BCA).

Cenkos says it has muscled in on the larger deals byoffering something different.

"We're trying to put capital together with ideas. We don'tthink we need to be a massive investment bank," Cenkos ChiefExecutive Jim Durkin told Reuters.

"Clearly there are issues surrounding investment banks;their returns are going down. It's fair to say that for sometime the UK equity market has been the neglected child of theseguys."

The BCA deal, for example, came along after bigger bankswere forced to pull its flotation last year.

SATISFIED CUSTOMER

With the AA listing, Cenkos pulled together cornerstoneinvestors to help the private equity backers raise 1.4 billionpounds and exit their investment completely. That was onlymonths after the backers sold none of their holdings in sistercompany Saga's listing, which was led by four majorbanks.

Cenkos is by no means alone in finding a profitable niche inthe sector.

In the past week mid-market Investec has been soleadviser in what it describes as two "stealth IPOs". In suchdeals the broker contacts potential investors withoutadvertising, which Investec says helps companies to achievebetter valuations.

Shore Capital, meanwhile, was retained as broker byPoundland after co-managing the British discountretailer's listing, which was led by JP Morgan andCredit Suisse.

"Some banks don't give analyst cover to mid-sized or smallercompanies. That presents an opportunity for us," Shore Capitalfounder Howard Shore said.

His company reported a 60 percent rise in pretax profit forits equities capital markets (ECM) division last year, havinghelped clients to raise 2.4 billion pounds.

But for all the inroads made by the smaller players, bankersat major institutions do not appear to be too worried.

"They do a pretty good job in their market. They're bothinteresting deals," one senior ECM specialist at a leading banksaid of Cenkos's success. "They're basically specialists, sothey tend to show up and that's it."($1 = 0.6756 British Pounds) (Editing by David Goodman)