As if we needed more confirmation that boutiques have found some lucrative niches on Wall Street. Roger Altman, chairman and co-CEO of Evercore Partners, has worked some palpable magic at the boutique. Evercore completed its best year ever in 2006, advising on $197 billion in global deals, including the largest deal of the year, AT&T's $90 billion acquisition of BellSouth. Evercore has also brought in some M&A heavyweights, boosted its restructuring business and expanded in Europe, Asia and Latin America. On top of all that, Evercore went public, raising $84 million. Its stock rose 18 percent on the first trading day. It has been rising ever since. The good news is that Evercore is not a one-man show. Lots of banker are bringing in business.

For more:
- here's an Investment Dealers' Digest article (For FierceFinance readers)