Principal Finance Desk

I am considering working on a desk at major BB bank that supposedly does a lot of merchant banking sort of opportunities. They finance a lot of infrastructure deals and also do some mezzanine lending. I hear they also sometimes propose LBO financing for the sponsors group when Lev Fin cannot touch it due to things like unaudited financials, etc. I think this sort of desk might be called Special Situations at some banks. What sort of exit opportunities would this afford? Apparently they have done deals for Blackstone and Carlyle. They work pretty crazy hours for trading, but almost never weekends and I would be the only analyst on the desk. I think most people just take a ton of work home and do it, so face time is not a big deal. Of the 12 people on the desk, almost everyone is a VP or higher. Is this another way to enter PE or would a hedge fund be a more natural exit opportunity?

Thanks