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FleetBoston Financial and CIBC World Markets filled out half of a $140 million "B" loan for Affinity Group after the bank meeting last Wednesday. A banker familiar with the refinancing credit said General Electric Capital Corp. came in at the agent level, but a GE spokesman could not confirm that. Pricing on the institutional loan is LIBOR plus 4% with an up-front fee of 25 basis points, the banker added. There is a five-year, $35 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 31/2% also included in the BB-/Ba3-rated deal.

Allegiance Telecom was facing an imminent default last week, causing Fitch Ratings to downgrade $500 million in secured credit facilities, the 113/4% senior discount notes due 2008 and 127/8% senior notes due 2008 to C from CC. According to Fitch, Allegiance will have great difficulty reducing its debt levels to meet the requirements of an amended credit agreement, which required the company to reduce total indebtedness to $645 million from $1.2 billion by April 30. Last November, the company reached an agreement with its creditors modifying some of the terms of its credit facility. Allegiance received a waiver of its existing financial covenants through April 30 and replaced them with a free cash flow from operations covenant and a leverage covenant.

Ares Management's latest collateralized loan obligation includes a wrinkle in its equity piece designed to entice investors who are restricted to buying rated CDO paper. The deal was priced last week and the equity piece is expected to be rated and classified as a triple-B tranche. Usually the equity piece is unrated and does not guarantee a fixed coupon. But the $50 million Class C notes of the Ares VII deal will be rated to the return of principal and a rated coupon, thereby giving the equity tranche the interest component of a bond even though the notes are truly equity in that they are in the first loss position of the capital structure, explained Elizabeth Russotto, senior director at Fitch Ratings. Deutsche Bank was the lead underwriter of the deal. Officials at Deutsche Bank and Ares did not return repeated calls.

A mass of Charter Communications' various credit facilities traded in the last couple of weeks as one bank was said to be paring down its exposure to the name in anticipation of the Shared National Credit (SNC) exam. The bank believes that there is a chance that Charter will have to restructure and will be deemed a non-performing loan by the exam, said one trader. Pieces of Charter's operating company facility and Falcon Cable facility were said to have traded in the mid 80s to low 90s depending on the tranche.

Some of the lenders on Allied Waste Industries' recently syndicated $1.5 billion revolver reportedly were paring their exposure in the secondary market last week, selling off the loan as low as 921/2. Market players said the banks signed onto the revolver last month to win investment banking fees. One trader explained that although it was logical to believe that the investment banks, which took on the largest portions of the revolver, were the ones selling, some of the banks with smaller exposures were doing the trades. A total amount on the trades could not be determined. There was some doubt that paper actually traded hands. "They would certainly lose money on that paper," one dealer said, noting the steep discount at 921/2.

Credit Suisse First Boston pitched a five-year, $75 million add-on "B" piece for real estate services company CB Richard Ellis last Thursday. A banker familiar with the deal said some commitments were obtained after the meeting, but he would not specify the level of subscription. The fully underwritten loan backs the company's $415 million all-cash acquisition of New York-based Insignia Financial Group. CSFB is shopping the B+/B1-rated deal with a LIBOR plus 41/4% coupon, which is the same rate as the original $185 million institutional piece. The loan will join the Los Angeles-based company's CSFB-led amended and restated credit, originally put in place in 2001. The entire deal now includes a $90 million revolver, a $50 million "A" loan and a $260 million "B" piece. The pro rata is priced in the LIBOR plus 31/4-33/4% range.

Denali Capital is shopping for its third collateralized loan obligation, the $400 million Denali Capital CLO III, that will target middle-market loans, a rarely tapped area in the CLO universe. Though the vehicle will tap the broadly syndicated loan market--deals over $250 million--Denali will aim for a meaningful level of middle-market loans as they offer better spreads, higher initial fees and better credit packages, according to a source. Credit Suisse First Boston reportedly is underwriting the deal, but a source said Bear Stearns was the lead. Officials at CSFB did not return calls and a Bear Stearns CDO banker declined comment. David Decker, Denali's cfo, also declined to comment on the prospective deal.

Dynegy led the charge for energy names this week coming out with a positive first quarter earnings report. The company's "A" loan marched up from the mid 90s into the 97-977/8 context. Additionally, the "B" loan was said to be trading in the 96 range up from the low 90s. Dynegy reported a net income of $147 million for the first quarter of 2003. The company also completed a three-year re-audit of its books from 1999 through the filing of the 2002 statements.

Engineered Support Systems received an accordion feature with its new $125 million, five-year revolver, allowing the company to increase the size of the facility for future acquisitions. The accordion feature permits the company to increase the size of the loan in $25 million increments up to $200 million, explained Gary Gerhardt, vice chairman and cfo of Engineered Support. The company plans to tap $66.5 million of the new facility to back its acquisition of TAMSCO later this month, but Gerhardt declined to identify other potential targets.

AMP, Australia's largest life insurer and fund manager, is selling up to A$1bn of new shares in a two day global bookbuild that will close today (Friday) at 3pm Sydney time. It also plans to demerge its Australian and UK operations into two separate listed businesses and is selling a further A$500m of new stock.

AUSTRALASIA Australia

PT Medco Energi has launched a consent solicitation and an exchange offering for its outstanding $100m 10.5% 2007 transaction, in conjunction with the launch of a $150m-$200m 2010 Reg S 144A deal. UBS Warburg is arranging the consent solicitation - the method of seeking bondholder approval for the exchange. The solicitation was launched last Thursday (April 24), and investors have until May 16 to participate. Credit Suisse First Boston is joining UBS Warburg to arrange the new 2010 issue, which will feature a five year put.