by Calculated Risk on 2/19/2008 07:30:00 PM

The WSJ Deal Journal has an interesting analysis today: Leveraged Loans: The Hangover Wasn’t Worth the Buzz

Investment banks now face around $197 billion in exposure to leveraged loans used to back big buyouts in 2007, adding inestimable stress to their efforts to extricate themselves from the credit crunch. Was it worth it?

Not really, no.

The WSJ's Heidi Moore provides some analysis for several banks. As an example, for Citigroup she writes:

Citigroup ... earned only $856 million in fees from private-equity firms in 2007, even though the bank underwrote leveraged loans totaling $114.3 billion and still holds $43 billion in exposure. Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney estimates Citigroup’s leveraged loan write-downs would be about $2.5 billion ...

And this doesn't count the opportunity costs.