Broker with the touch for float success

NOT so long ago on these pages I profiled Alex Snow, boss of Evolution, the stockbroker that has come from nowhere and aroused considerable controversy through its involvement in a series of disastrous flotations.

That was before the emergence of the full horror of Regal Petroleum, the company that claimed to have struck oil in Greece but appears to have hit not much more than sand, and was another to enjoy Evolution's support.

Snow, a former England B and Harlequins rugby player, seemed to embody the bulldog aggression of Evolution. Today, after the Regal debacle, the City looks to be losing patience with the broker. While plenty of its deals have been fine, too many have turned sour for investors' liking. To the chagrin of punters, the words 'due diligence' and Evolution do not always appear to sit easily together.

Now I'm with the head of another broking firm - Tim Cockroft of KBC Peel Hunt. A sense of deja vu takes hold. Cockroft's outfit is a head-to-head rival of Snow; and he, too, is a formidable sportsman - in rackets, he's three times British Open doubles champion, six times British Amateur doubles champion and has twice been a challenger for the world title.

Throw in Terry Smith - pugilistic boss of Collins Stewart, a competitor of Evolution and Peel Hunt - and, you have to wonder, what is it about these broking firms who now seem to be making so much of the play in the City, especially in the small to mid-caps arena?

It's as if, in order to take on the mighty global powerhouses and defeat them in London, they have to display testosterone in abundance, to somehow push their way through to grab, and hang on to, a share of the market.

Once it all seemed so gentlemanly. It wasn't, of course, but that's the way our minds play tricks. And the embodiment of that spirit was Peel Hunt, the stockbroking and investment house founded by Old Etonians Charlie Peel and Chris Hunt in 1989.

They were directors of Morgan Grenfell, made redundant when the bank pulled out of UK equities. Believing there was still a place in the Square Mile for old-style broking - and values (among their first private clients were a pair of waiters from their favourite Savoy Grill) - they set up their own firm.

Immediately attracting the jokey nickname, Punt, it did very well, very quickly, thanks to a couple of large plays, one of which was Mount Charlotte's purchase of Thistle Hotels from Scottish & Newcastle (the fact that Charles's younger brother, Robert, was boss of Mount Charlotte unquestionably helped). It was all good fun - and serious business.

Peel Hunt floated in 2000 and was bought soon after by Belgian bank KBC for £265m. Charlie's share was £45m; Chris's £30m. Even Charlie's secretary, Jane, got a wedge of £2m.

Also among those making a few bob was Cockroft, then just 32. "I had a million or so shares,' he says of a deal where the Belgians paid 450p a share. Peel and Hunt have since left, and Cockroft has taken charge.

His time as chief executive has been marked by the increasingly fierce struggle with fellow players like Evolution, Collins Stewart and Numis, and multinational giants led by UBS, for the lucrative activity of bringing smaller to medium-sized companies to the market.

Recently, it's as if the sector has gone a bit mad. No less than 40% by value of the stocks listed on AIM, for example are in natural resources. Almost any outfit, it seems, can claim it has found oil and gas, and have would-be investors clamouring for shares.

'That can't be right,' says Cockroft. 'Oil is a very tricky area.' He wants to put distance between his firm and some of the others. 'If anything, we're too honest about we do and how we do it. You hear claims of some outrageous promises being made by brokers about what they can achieve. If a company says it wants to raise £10m, we don't say 'why not £20m?''

So far this year, he's steered 14 IPOs and, touch wood, none have come a cropper. 'You've got to tread very carefully with managements and their backgrounds. It's very difficult, finding the right companies and the right people.'

Started with seven employees, Cockroft's brokerage now counts 104 and 'has 126 corporate clients, second behind UBS'. But he stresses, without naming any of his rivals, that 'quantity on its own isn't the answer'.

Cockroft is steeped in the City, and in the proper way of doing things. His father ran Fimbra, the watchdog that actually knew what it was doing, before the creation of the behemoth that is the Financial Services Authority.

Born in Windsor, he went to Wellington College, the public school in Berkshire, where he excelled at sport, playing cricket, hockey and squash to county level. At school, he was also taught rackets, a sport played on only 20 or so courts in the UK. 'It's very pure, like squash with a golf ball but on a bigger court.'

In winter, he plays four times a week competitively, usually at Queen's Club. In summer, he plays cricket for the Hurlingham and Old Wellingtonians.

He thought about going to university but couldn't see the point. 'I was interested in the social side but the work didn't interest me. I was due to go to Durham to read economics. I had a gap year in the City, working at accountants Spicer & Pegler. I loved it. I'm a doer - I thought three years without working was a waste of time. You can have a brain without going to university, you know.'

He joined Pinchin Denny as a trainee jobber. 'I loved everything about the City. The stock market floor was a fantastic place to start, with loads of atmosphere and great characters.' Not long after he began, Pinchin Denny was bought by Morgan Grenfell. When Morgan closed it down, Peel and Hunt set up on their own.

It was 1989 and he was just 22. 'I had the opportunity, to go to university or go with their start-up,' recalls Cockroft. 'Charlie interviewed me in the Pavilion, over a few glasses of white wine, to size up if I was honest or not, and that was it. I was going to put some money into a new flat but I put into their firm instead,' he says. 'If you invest every spare penny, it concentrates the mind an awful lot.'

It was a wise move, although at first that was not apparent. 'We earned bugger all for the first few years.' They moved into technology and property in 1997. Technology is now their biggest area of expertise and property the second. 'I'm a very conservative person so I understand property but I also know technology is the future.'

Then the broker floated. As a Plc, Peel Hunt was open for anyone to have a go at, and KBC duly did. While he admits to 'never having heard of KBC before', he maintains: 'They've been incredibly good with us. They don't run us. They've appointed a non-executive chairman. They're very clever - they let us run it while they oversee us.'

The way he presents it, he seems to have a dream life. Rich, married with three young children, in his job allowed to get on with things ('we like to be independent but they provide us with a strong balance sheet'), untouched by scandals elsewhere ('we've got a reputation for providing sound advice') and deliberately low-key ('I keep a very low profile').

He's even at the top of a sport that barely rates a mention anywhere. That doesn't mean he should be underestimated, though. 'The City is like sport, it's very competitive. Coming second is a waste of time, no matter how many times people say it is not.'