GUEST COMMENT: An LBO exit is the new Goldman Sachs

I suspect I may not be alone in wondering whether the decision to build a career in investment banking was a wrong one.

For a while, the ride was good. I spent eight years in the City, first in IBD in a top US house and then in the buy-side in a prestigious credit fund. It was the top of the market and life was pleasant.

Then came the credit crunch. Through no fault of my own, I lost my job when my firm restructured its credit business. I was lucky enough to find another job almost immediately in a smaller fund. But six months' later that went into liquidation too.

I tried to pick myself up again. I looked around for jobs in other funds but it was dead. I looked abroad at the Middle East and Asia, but that was dead too. I thought restructuring advisory might offer some opportunities; I was wrong.

I didn't give up. I kept pushing and networking. I didn't ask for jobs outright - first of all I needed to establish where the opportunities were.

After a few months, my strategy paid off. I now work for a continental European bank in the financial recovery division. My job involves managing distressed corporate loans underwritten by the bank over the past few years. I try to improve recovery of those loans through negotiations with the management, structuring subordinated notes, taking equity upside and at times, swapping debt with equity to acquire control of the firms.

I work for a less sexy employer than in the past and I'm earning less. But I'm doing more deals than I could ever have done in a comparable timeframe and I'm pretty much running the show. I'm also developing a formidable understanding of how firms of the "real economy" are navigating these hard times. I'll also be sitting on a few boards of firms where we hold an equity interest.

I really like my job, but nonetheless I miss the City. I sometimes wonder whether there will be room again for me in the top tier.

At the same time however, my current role has introduced me to a whole new array of opportunities outside the City. There are numerous talented people - many of them former bankers and consultants - who have taken on management roles in high growth companies in the expectation of payouts through LBO exits. In some cases they make tens of millions for themselves.

With banks now subject to bonus deferrals and clawback, I wonder, is the LBO exit the new Goldman Sachs?