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Calpine Construction Finance Company's (CCFC I) $750 million of new debt has been trading at premium levels in the secondary loan market. Market players said the first-lien term loan was trading above the 102 level and the second-lien floating-rate note (FRN) was trading in the 99-991/2 range last week. The term loan has ticked up from the 991/2 to par range and the FRN has risen from the 981/4 - 983/4 context, where the debt was trading the day the credit broke. Both pieces were issued at 98. "We are really happy with the way that it turned out," said one buysider. "I think Goldman [Sachs, the lead arranger for the deal,] was extremely sensitive to investors' needs and demands."

Higher than anticipated cost structure and lower than expected parking lot utilization has led Moody's Investors Service to downgrade Central Parking Corp.'s debt ratings from Ba2 to Ba3. The outlook is stable on Central Parking's $175 million revolver and its $175 million term loan "B". Corporate America's demand for parking has waned due to higher unemployment and diminished job security, Moody's notes. Furthermore, the slow economy has increased the level of cost consciousness and reduced the number of high margin discretionary nighttime parking as fewer people venture out for discretionary spending such as entertainment, Moody's adds.

Los Angeles-based Centre Pacific has embarked on a leveraged loan warehouse line with Citigroup shortly after completing its first synthetic investment-grade CDO, a $1 billion single-tranche deal called Cascade CSO. The leveraged loan warehouse is comprised of typical term "B" paper, but one advantage is that the deal will not necessarily be securitized, said David Gold, managing director and portfolio manager for Centre Pacific. "What's attractive about the facility with Citi is that it's an evergreen not tied to a CLO, which gives us the flexibility on issuance timing," he said, declining comment on the size of the vehicle.

Charter Communications bank debt has recovered from a brief dip in levels that occurred following the company's decision to cancel a tender offer for its senior notes and senior discount notes. By midweek, the company's term loan "B" was trading in the 931/2 94 range up from the 911/2 931/2 range. Charter bonds were also about two to three points higher, noted one trader.

Credit Suisse First Boston has priced the notes for The Blackstone Group's Union Square CLO. The $400 million deal is the second CLO completed since Dean Criares, managing director and portfolio manager, joined from Trimaran Advisors in January 2002. Originally the deal was slated to be $300 million, according to a source. Another source said in addition to being increased, the deal priced tighter than market talk. The $291 million triple-A tranche is priced at LIBOR plus 53 basis points.

UBS and Credit Suisse First Boston flexed down pricing on Associated Materials' $190 million "B" loan last week after investors heavily oversubscribed to the tranche, a banker said. Pricing was lowered from LIBOR plus 3% to LIBOR plus 23/4% and buysiders were asked to recommit to the deal by noon last Thursday. The banker said allocation was expected to take place by the end of last week.

Wachovia Securities and Bear Stearns are planning to launch syndication after Labor Day of an amended and restated credit for DRS Technologies to partially back its $550 million acquisition of Integrated Defense Technologies (IDT). A banker explained that add-on institutional term debt would be put in place on top of a refinanced credit facility. He did not state the size of the expected add-on debt, as details are still being finalized. DRS' existing credit includes a $125 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 23/4% and a $213.6 million "B" loan priced at LIBOR plus 3%. A Bear Stearns official declined to comment and a Wachovia Banker did not return calls.

Loral Space & Communications bank debt traded in the 96-97 context last week after the company received an informal offer from EchoStar Communications Corp. to purchase six North American satellites for about $1.05 billion. Loral has already reached a definitive agreement to sell the satellites to Intelsat for approximately $1.1 billion in cash. The sale of the satellites to Intelsat was approved by antitrust regulators last week. "It looks like something is going to happen here," said one trader. The bank debt was a touch stronger from the 942/3 - 952/3 level where it was quoted at the beginning of last week, according to LoanX.

International Multifoods was able to refinance its credit without an institutional loan this time around after reducing its debt by more than $225 million since Nov. 2001, said John Byom, senior v.p. and cfo of the consumer foods and foodservice products company. The new credit is for $250 million and includes a five-year, $175 million revolver and a $75 million amortizing term loan. Byom said the covenants on the new pro rata deal are more flexible, as debt levels have been reduced due to repayments from strong operating cash flow and from proceeds from the sale of the company's foodservice distribution business.

The new $200 million credit for B&G Foods backing the company's $116 million acquisition of the Ortega food brands businesses from Nestlé Prepared Foods Co. is expected to add scale and diversity to the company's business. Ortega, a shelf-stable Mexican food brand, is expected to bring in 20% of B&G sales. But since Ortega has operated as a part of Nestlé's business, it may have benefited from the large-scale company's advantageous input and distribution relationships. While B&G has tried to adjust the numbers to reflect some of these concerns, the results remain to be seen, noted Helen Calvelli, a v.p. and senior credit officer for Moody's Investors Service. Going forward, B&G also plans to change the brand's marketing strategy, she added.

FirstEnergy Corp.'s bank debt traded in the secondary loan market for the first time last week on speculation of potential repercussions stemming from the blackout of Aug. 14. An $8 million piece of the company's bank debt traded out of an original lender around the 963/4 context, according to market players. The credit protection for FirstEnergy was also said to have been extremely volatile at the beginning of last week. "That tells me that people are jumping in [to the credit protection]," one banker said. Dot Matthews, a CreditSights senior analyst who follows the name, said the credit is a bit of a moving target. "Here is a situation that we are looking at with a potential liability that we can't quantify," she said.

J.H. Whitney is said to be winding down the J.H. Whitney Market Value Fund, a collateralized debt obligation that is invested in a mixture of senior secured loans, bonds, warrants, equity and some CDOs. A source said the fund has been suffering from significant decline in the market value of the fund's assets for over a year, leading to failures in the overcollateralization (OC) tests. The losses are not primarily in the loans, another source said. J.H. Whitney officials referred calls to Dan O'Brien, managing director and cfo, who did not return them.