Evercore climbs league table with Burlington deal

* Evercore lands advisory role, rises in tables

* Veteran banker Roger Altman advised on deal

* Goldman Sachs advised, but remains at No. 2

* Evercore, GS could scoop up estimated fees of $50mln-55mln

By Megan Davies

NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Boutique M&A advisor Evercore (EVR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has climbed up the league tables by landing the high profile job of advising Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on its $26 billion takeover.

Evercore, which along with Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) advised Burlington, moved from number 12 to 10 in the worldwide financial advisory rankings, according to Thomson Reuters data.

It jumped from No. 6 to No. 4 in the U.S. target financial advisory rankings, muscling past Citi (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research). It now sits behind the top three U.S. target advisors -- Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), according to Thomson Reuters data.

As well as the status, winning a top assignment is a sweet payday for M&A advisors.