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Merrill Lynch has hired Eugene Yeung, equity derivatives structurer at Macquarie Bank in Hong Kong, as a v.p. for its strategic solutions group in Hong Kong. Yeung said he will focus on third-party distribution for equity derivatives, such as retail and private banking clients. Underlying equities will include names from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the U.S. He reports to Abhinav Gorawara, managing director in the strategic solutions group in Hong Kong, who did not return messages. At Macquarie he reported to Peter Moses, head of structuring in Hong Kong, who did not immediately respond to messages.

BNP Paribas has tapped Daniel Goldstein, equity derivatives salesman at Lehman Brothers in London, to fill a new slot as head of hedge fund sales for equity derivatives. Goldstein could not be reached and it could not be determined who he will report to at BNP. Celeste Matta-Brown, spokeswoman for the French house, declined comment.

UBS has hired Stephen Sze, head of the third-party distribution group at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, in a new role as head of private banking and retail distribution for Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

Deutsche Bank has lost a raft of credit derivative officials with six traders and structurers quitting the London office in the past week.

The group working to standardize a loan-only credit default swap contract has developed a contract and settlement rider designed to minimize counterparty squabbling and keep settlement to T+30.

Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. will launch its first hedge fund at the end of the second quarter and will focus on buying loans and bonds in the secondary market while also providing direct lending.

As "CrackBerry" addicts eagerly awaited the ruling of a court hearing regarding the potential shutdown of BlackBerry service last week, some in the market contemplated what life would be like without their trusty black box.

A hedge fund looking to own a stake in Eddie Bauer bought a $21 million piece of bank debt of Eddie Bauer's former parent company, The Spiegel Group.

The following charts show the top five advancers and decliners in terms of % moves in the loan, bond and credit default swap markets for the previous week.

Miguel Biamon, v.p. and director of fixed income at Bryn Mawr Trust Co., a Pennsylvania firm with about $2.3 billion in assets under management, is looking to diversify his agencies and increase his allocation to corporates by buying financial names.

The convergence of pricing in the mezzanine and second-lien markets and a backlash from first-lien lenders seeking to block second liens are starting to boost the mezzanine financing market.

-- Howard Shams, managing director in leveraged finance at Credit Suisse, regarding loan-only credit default swap documents.