Free content

WestLB is shifting its Singapore fixed income operation to Hong Kong and Tokyo, according to firm officials.

Swiss Re Capital Management in New York has hired three more equity derivative officials from Lehman Brothers.

Traders snapped up protection last week on Universal Corp., a major tobacco leaf merchant, as the price of protection on its bonds continued to rise following poor earnings and Standard & Poor's placing the company on negative watch the previous week.

A port commission in Washington state has entered into an interest-rate swap with two firms to hedge exposure to rate changes on a USD100 million floating-rate bond issue planned for next year.

Owens Corning's bank debt jumped 11 points to the 124-126 range after the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned a district court decision that would have removed the structural seniority position of bank lenders owning debt in Owens Corning ruling.

The credit facility for Vanguard Car Rental USA was pulled from the market today, just a week after it was downsized by $275 million and pricing was upped by as much as 300 basis points on the second lien.

Jeff Bersh, formerly head of distressed trading at Credit Suisse First Boston, and Mike Wartell, a former co-head of distressed research at Deutsche Bank, have teamed up to launch an event-driven, long/short credit fund.

Fitch Ratings has introduced recovery ratings that quantify the level of recovery for bank debt and bond holders in the event of a default.

KKR Financial Corp., the real investment trust subsidiary of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. with over $7 billion in assets under management, is finding very little value in the high-yield bond market and in secondary loans.

-- Philip Barnes, executive v.p. and cfo of Goldcorp, explaining why the Canadian company takes out U.S. dollar-based bank facilities.

The term loan "B" and the bonds for Leiner Health Products took a dip last week on news of lower net sales and profits for the three months ending June 25.

Austin, Texas-based Sage Advisory Services is looking to the secondary market for investment value.