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Five-year credit-default protection on Ahold, a Dutch international retailer, tightened by around 100 basis points last Thursday to 270-290bps. The narrowing came after the corporate produced some positive headline 2000-2002 numbers for Stop & Shop, its U.S. supermarket chain, and Albert Heijn, its Dutch supermarket. Ahold is expected to produce accounts for 2002 at the end of September.

Bear Stearns has revamped its global credit derivatives operation, strengthening its London office and setting up a structured products hedge fund. The firm has lured Martin Bates, executive director at Morgan Stanley in London, to build a flow credit sales team that will complement its recent hires on the trading side. In addition, it has transferred two senior New York officials to new roles. Ralph Cioffi, senior managing director and head of structured credit product management and the insurance coverage team, is heading to Bear Stearns Asset Management to start a structured credit and finance hedge fund. Meanwhile, Martin St Pierre, senior managing director, has transferred to London as global head of structured credit derivatives.

BNP Paribas is transferring Brian Lazell, managing director and Asia-Pacific head of credit markets in Hong Kong, to London to assume the role of European head of debt capital markets for corporate borrowers. Lazell replaces Ann Iverson, who resigned in July, according to Edwina Frawley, spokeswoman in London.

Banc of America Securities is readying its fourth synthetic securitization of residential mortgages in just 12 months, which would mean it had securitized in the region of USD50 billion of its parent's RMBS portfolio. In addition, these are thought to be the only synthetic RMBS deals to have hit the market in the U.S.

Click here to see the demographic make up, in terms of staff and location, of the Asian financial markets.

BNP Paribas has appointed Alex Melis as the new head of its London-based fixed-income Dutch sales team and hired three salesmen. Melis is responsible for the distribution of interest-rate and global credit products into Holland. He will report jointly to Mark Goldman, European head of bond sales, and Stefano Paschetto, head of fixed-income derivatives marketing. Edwina Frawley, a spokeswoman, confirmed the moves.

Babcock & Brown's impending synthetic collateralized debt obligation debut will pair up each of the credit-default swaps in its reference pool, making a structure that rivals have not seen before, according to one official familiar with the structure.

Citigroup has hired Sandra Wong, CDO structurer at JPMorgan in London, as a director and CDO structurer/deal manager in London. Wong will report to Tim Beaulac, head of CDO origination and structuring in London, according to Jeremy Hughes, spokesman in London.

Nancy Malamed-Simon, a senior equity derivatives marketer at Commerzbank Securities in New York, has jumped to specialist broker Israel A. Englander & Co. in New York, as co-manager of the midtown trading desk. Malamed-Simon said the new role centers on listed equities, including listed options, in contrast to her previous focus on over-the-counter derivatives. Malamed-Simon reports to Peter Feinberg, executive v.p. in New York.

Straight from the horse's mouth. . . Trainer Rick Violette has outperformed the market at Saratoga this year, winning four of nine juvenile races with two-year-old horses, among them Distressed Debt, Read the Footnotes and Bond Arbitrage. Violette is considering entering Bond Arbitrage in the $200,000 Summer Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 14.

How does one explain Bain Capital's latest acquisition of Bombardier's jet ski and snowmobile business? Followers of Massachusetts Governor and Bain founder Mitt Romney could have spotted his support for Bombardier's products some time ago. The Canadian firm supplied all of the ATVs and snowmobiles for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games, which Romney directed. Even better, earlier this summer, Romney and his sons used their jets skis to rescue a family of six whose boat capsized on a New Hampshire lake. It could not be determined if the jet skis were from Bombardier.

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.