Bankers with restructuring chops are in high demand — again

For bankers with almost any level of restructuring expertise, the recent bankruptcy busts are turning into a boom.  

Even as banks like Goldman Sachs have laid off nearly 10% of their workforce over the last year, insiders say anyone with restructuring knowledge will not only be safe – they’ll also be the rainmakers.

“Restructuring experts are going to be winners – they’re in the catbird seat moving forward,” a source told On The Money. “You take the best and brightest that already know restructuring and you move them to that wildly lucrative role.”

Take Lehman Brothers: In the years after filing for bankruptcy, the now-extinct firm paid 30 banking, legal, and consulting firms more than $2 billion to sell assets, manage money and decipher bond covenants. 

While those with experience in restructuring will have a leg-up, other sources note that this presents an opportunity for bankers with any kind of experience to jump ship to restructuring. 

Meanwhile, with a dearth of IPOs, SPAC, and M&A bankers – firms are reshuffling the chairs to get the most out of their existing body of workers, On The Money has learned. 

“M&A folks are now doing work on restructuring,” one banking source told The Post. “These groups are made to be cross functional teams.”

“There’s a huge history on Wall Street of people being repurposed,” another source told On The Money. “It’s just like the 1980s – the bankers working on junk bonds quickly pivoted to restructuring or even private equity where they bought companies out of bankruptcy.”