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The $200 million "B" piece financing Kmart's exit from bankruptcy picked up a $30 million ticket from Eaton Vance ahead of the retail launch. Whitehall Business Credit and one other shop also were named as participants last week. One source said LongAcre Capital Partners was the third ticket holder, but an official at LongAcre denied this. A banker familiar with the deal would not cite the size of the two additional tickets, but he said that more investors were getting close to signing on late last week. GE Commercial Finance, Bank of America and Fleet Retail Finance are shopping the loan along with a $1.8 billion revolver in order to facilitate the mass merchandising retailer's "fast-track" plans to emerge from bankruptcy by April 30.

Murry Stegelmann, a managing director and head of the bank loan group at General Electric Capital Corp., is set to leave the firm in the next few weeks to start a distressed debt fund based in Norwalk, Conn. Stegelmann is dipping his toes into the pool of distressed funds that have formed in droves in recent years, responding to the market's downturn and the resulting influx of distressed paper. Stegelmann declined to comment.

Tesoro Petroleum's new bank deal was trading in the 100 3/8 101 context after the credit broke into the secondary market last week. With a non-call provision in the first year and 103 call protection for the second, one trader thought that the bank debt would be trading at more of a premium. A dealer commented that Tesoro "is not out of the woods yet." He said although the new deal has a decent interest rate and call protection, the old deal traded in the mid 90s before the refinancing got underway.

Tesoro Petroleum Corp.'s $800 million credit, which broke into the secondary market last week, still has high leverage despite reductions in the size of the line. The company downsized the line from $1.275 billion, keeping on track with its goal of debt reduction, but the acquisition of three refineries in the last 18 months has still left Tesoro with a substantial debt load, explained Bryan Caviness, director at Fitch Ratings. Fitch has assigned the senior secured credit a BB- rating with a negative outlook, reflecting the company's high leverage and ongoing volatility in the global crude market and U.S. refining sector.

UBS Warburg's $130 million deal backing the leveraged buyout for ILC Industries by Behrman Capital is now full after investors were offered higher pricing and a juicier up-front fee. A banker familiar with the credit said it will fund this week and was done with a combination of middle-market lenders and institutional investors. Additionally, The Blackstone Group is said to have signed up for an increased mezzanine piece, with a coupon north of 161/2%. But, a banker said the yield is in the low teens.

James Bolin, a portfolio manager and secretary of Appaloosa Management, has left the firm to join Citadel Investment Group in Chicago. An official at Appaloosa confirmed he left last month, but could not comment further, referring calls to Ron Goldstein, v.p. and cfo. Goldstein did not return calls by press time. Bolin has joined Brad Couri's group at Citadel, according to a source, who added that Bolin would concentrate on distressed debt. Bolin and Couri also did not return calls.

AUSTRALASIA Australia

PT Bank Mandiri aims to launch its $200m five year deal today (Friday) instead of next week, on the back of surprisingly strong investor demand. The background of the Iraq war, the continuing spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in Asia and the upcoming Easter holiday proved to be no hindrance to the state owned Indonesian bank, and the transaction attracted a strong order book.

Paul Chow, the chief executive of HSBC Asset Management (Hong Kong), has resigned to return to his old position as head of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx). Chow, who starts at HKEx in early May, replaces Kwong Ki-chi, who resigned last November.

Citigroup Capital Markets yesterday (Thursday) sold $200m of Taishin Financial Holding convertible bonds in less than five hours. The books were more than eight times covered and the terms the most issuer-friendly to date for any of Taiwan's new financial holding companies, which began selling CBs overseas early last year. The five year bonds offer investors a put at the end of three years with a semi-annual yield of 2.4%, at the tight end of the 2.4%-2.7% marketing range.

Australia Suncorp Metway enlivened moribund markets in Australia yesterday (Thursday) with a A$450m three year issue via Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Bank.

Deutsche Bank has lured one of Asia's best known China analysts back to Hong Kong to take up the head of Greater China equities research role. Jing Ulrich is joining to Deutsche Bank from CLSA Emerging Markets in New York, where she had been responsible for top institutional client relationships globally.