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 investment banking giants that stalk Europe's equity markets, a group of lesser-known advisory firms are treading on the toes of the big boys.

Cenkos, a mid-market securities firm employing only 117 people, has elbowed its way into the top 10 institutions advising on European share sales this quarter, helping its clients to raise $1.84 billion from six deals, Reuters data shows.

Coming in at No.9 in terms of money raised, Cenkos has climbed above Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and tucked itself just behind Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) .

This time last year Cenkos stood 39th but rose to prominence with its work on the June listing of British motoring organisation AA and then took its place at the top table after advising Haversham Holdings on March's 1.23 billion pound ($1.82 billion) purchase of British Car Auctions (BCA).

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

"We're trying to put capital together with ideas. We don't think we need to be a massive investment bank," Cenkos Chief Executive Jim Durkin told Reuters.

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

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

SATISFIED CUSTOMER

With the AA listing, Cenkos pulled together cornerstone investors to help the private equity backers raise 1.4 billion pounds and exit their investment completely. That was only months after the backers sold none of their holdings in sister company Saga (LSE: SAGA.L - news) 's listing, which was led by four major banks.

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

In the past week mid-market Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) has been sole adviser in what it describes as two "stealth IPOs". In such deals the broker contacts potential investors without advertising, which Investec says helps companies to achieve better valuations.

Shore Capital, meanwhile, was retained as broker by Poundland after co-managing the British discount retailer's listing, which was led by JP Morgan and Credit Suisse (LSE: 0QP5.L - news) .

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

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

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

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