How much am I worth?Director, private equity, large US bank

A panel of specialist headhunters give their assessment of typical London pay packages: Director, private equity, large US bank: salary 115,000, bonus - in a good year - 350,000

With equity markets weak, M&A activity all but dead in the water and finance houses issuing more P45 redundancy slips than new products, finding a measure of quite how depressed the financial markets are is no easy task.

However, the private equity and venture capital sector gives an indication: the latest figures show a sharp fall in activity in the eurozone, for the fifth consecutive quarter, to €5.2bn in the three months to the end of June 2002, against €22.9bn in the same period last year.

That's a drop of nearly 80%, explained largely by the absence of the mega-deals that sustained the market through the mid to late 1990s and the collapse of the high-tech bubble that gave rise to a wave of activity in 1999-2000, but also by a general, insidious underlying lack of confidence in all matters financial.

"Prospects for private equity and venture capital remain uncertain...(and) contrary to expectation, reduced valuations have not led to an increase in deal activity," says Shirin Stanley at Alexander Mann Global Markets (AMGM).

Against such a background, it is the real diehards who have stayed on top. A typical director in private equity at a big US bank will have come from a corporate finance/merger and acquisition specialist background, and will probably have some experience of building up relationships with small to medium-sized companies.

Less probably, he/she might come to private equity through an accounting or management consultancy background - a more common lateral move in the UK and Europe. The person will then head the fund with an eye to investing in venture capital transactions or looking to get involved in leveraged buyouts.

In today's market, they will also need patience and staying power, be prepared to fight with competitors for whatever business there is and put up with considerably less money than in previous years. Mindset is what matters most.

Remuneration depends upon performance, which this year has been terrible at most big banks. Many will be lucky to get any bonus at all, warns Shaun Springer, CEO of Napier Scott.

Others agree; though basic salaries can be expected to stay stable, bonuses this year will fall some way short of an "average good year" when a director of private equity might expect a bonus of between 350,000 and 500,000 according to Shirin Stanley at AMGM - without the "carried interest" element which attracts many to private equity in the first place and which can be well in excess of the bonus.

Yet there may be light at the end of the tunnel. There is talk of a pick-up in activity at the small, "Mom and Pop" end of the business, which means transactions under $100 million.

There was also a notable pick up in funds raised last quarter, which presumably have to go somewhere. Stanley says this could "prove a catalyst for an upturn in activity for the year ahead," though there's no guarantee of an end to the doom and gloom.

Contributors include AMGM, Napier Scott and Citipeople