It's hard to believe: the credit crunch is getting close to a year old. When it first hit, the result was stunning as pending deals came under much pressure, such as with price renegotiations, litigation and abandonments. There was also an evaporation of mega deals.

However, lately there are signs that buyouts are making a comeback. A recent example is Carlyle's $2.54 purchase of the government business of Booz Allen Hamilton.

But, that's not enough to support the heavy dealmaking infrastructure on Wall Street. As a result, we are now seeing some major layoffs as well as the departures of key players.

For example, according to a piece in Bloomberg.com, the co-head of leveraged finance at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Ashok Nayyar, has left the firm. And the global leveraged finance chief at Deutsche Bank AG, Michael Paasche, is also leaving.

Of course, this doesn't mean that leveraged finance will go away. If anything, major private equity firms will likely bolster their own platforms. Or, we may see other banks entry the fray, such as Barclays Capital (NYSE: BCS).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.