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Bear Stearns is talking to equity investors in collateralized loan obligations for Octagon Credit Investors' Octagon VI deal. A source said the CLO will likely be in the $300-400 million range and will start warehousing assets in the summer. Octagon is the leveraged loan and high-yield manager subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Partners. Officials at Octagon declined comment and a Bear Stearns CDO banker did not return calls.

BNP Paribas launched syndication last week for Wackenhut Corrections Corp.'s $150 million credit backing the company's purchase of Wackenhut shares held by majority shareholder Group 4 Falck, a Danish security firm. A banker familiar with the deal said investors had oversubscribed the six-year, $100 million "B" loan ahead of the Wednesday bank meeting, but the lead bank was still accepting more investors into the tranche. Price talk for the institutional loan is LIBOR plus 33/4%, while the five-year, $50 million revolver is being shopped at LIBOR plus 3%. The revolver is being offered with an up-front fee of 50 basis points, the banker noted. A BNP official declined to comment.

Centennial Communications Corp.'s home run bond offering lifted the levels on bank debt for wireless names last week. Centennial increased the offering of 101/8% senior unsecured notes due 2013 from $300 million to $500 million, with one trader noting that other wireless companies will be encouraged to tap the market. "Anything wireless is up," said a dealer.

PolyOne Corp., a polymer services company, has completed a $575 million debt refinancing plan to gain access to the liquidity necessary to repay $87.8 million of senior debt due to expire this September, said Dennis Cocco, chief investor and communications officer for PolyOne. Citigroup, PolyOne's relationship bank, led the new deal, which includes a three-year, $50 million revolver, a three-year, $225 million accounts receivable (A/R) sale facility and $300 million of 105/8% senior unsecured notes.

Credit Suisse First Boston is set to lead a credit backing the $1.2 billion acquisition of school yearbook and class-ring maker Jostens. CSFB's private equity fund DLJ Merchant Banking III LP is acquiring the company from Investcorp, MidOcean Partners, First Union Leveraged Capital and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. Through the transaction, DLJ will pay $500 million in cash and assume $537 million of Jostens' debt and other securities.

The European arms of BNP Paribas, Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston and The Royal Bank of Scotland are set to lead a bank deal backing what could be the largest European takeover by private equity firms. BC Partners, CVC Partners and Investitori Associati are buying 62% of the directories business from Italy's biggest phone company, Telecom Italia SpA, for E3 billion, which is equivalent to $3.5 billion. If the buyers are able to buy the rest of the unit owned by other investors, the purchase price could rise to E5.7 billion. The sale of the yellow pages business, called Seat Pagine Gialle, will help shed some of Telecom Italia's E40 billion debt load.

Global Crossing's bank debt stayed at the 21-22 level last week, with sources noting that activity was quieter than usual despite Carl Icahn's offer to buy all the bank debt for 21 cents on the dollar two weeks ago. Some investors holding the paper seem to be banking on this being the first of incrementally higher bids and that this one is too low. It could not be determined if any holders of the debt have taken Icahn up on his offer.

Citigroup held an investor conference call last Wednesday to assuage concerns and get the ball rolling on its $390 million deal for Quintiles Transnational Corp. Several "B" loan investors were dragging their heels, concerned about the potential risk from the company's own investment unit--the PharmaBio Development group.

Medical device manufacturer Medex completed a $170 million credit for the buyout of the intravenous catheter business of Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, after decreasing the size of the bank deal and increasing the size of a concurrent bond deal. The bond deal was increased from $150 million to $200 million, said Mike Dobrovic, cfo, explaining that the shift was made to take advantage of a hot bond market and also to reduce the company's senior debt. One Equity Partners--the private equity arm of Bank One--invested in Medex to become the majority shareholder of the Dublin, Ohio-based company and to enable Medex to complete the acquisition. Dobrovic would not state the purchase price or terms related to the acquisition.

Levels for Mirant Corp.'s various revolvers climbed more than 10 points into the 75-80 range last week with some original lenders taking the opportunity to get out of the name after a slump into the low 60s two weeks ago. Levels for the parent company's revolvers and the five-year revolver at the Mirant Americas Generation (MAG) subsidiary were "all over the place, but significantly higher" said one banker. She noted that the $1.125 billion revolver maturing in July was quoted in the 73-75 range. The $1.125 billion revolver, maturing in July 2005, was quoted in the 75-80 context, according to a trader. Only two weeks ago the '03 revolver was quoted as low as 57-62 (LMW, 6/16).

Moog, a manufacturer of precision control components and systems, has refinanced its $75 million term loan and $265 million revolver through lead bank HSBC. East Aurora, N.Y.-based Moog increased the overall size of the credit to repay $120 million in 10% notes completed in 1996, noted Tim Balkin, Moog's treasurer. The bonds became callable on May 1, so the company decided to tap its bank group and increase the loan to $390 million, he said. At the time of the refinancing the company's former term loan had been reduced to $45 million. Moog is basically exchanging 10% debt for 4% debt, Balkin explained.

UBS Warburg's $285 million deal for Nellson Nutraceutical oversubscribed days after syndication launched, with the $260 million "B" term loan flexing down 1/2% to LIBOR plus 3%. The credit backs the Irwindale, Calif-based nutritional bar and powder manufacturer's acquisition of Bariatrix Products International, another bar and powder manufacturer. The deal also includes a $25 million revolver. Leverage is expected to be 3.5 times debt-to-EBITDA after the transaction is completed. The total purchase price for Bariatrix could not be ascertained. Equity firm Fremont Partners purchased Nellson last October for $300 million (LMW, 11/18). A UBS official declined to comment and a Fremont spokesman did not return calls before press time.