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Fleming Companies' term loan "B" slumped back down with pieces trading in the low-to-mid-80s from the low 90s. The company was said to have hosted a bank meeting a week last Friday that was not as optimistic as a bank call the week before. Toward the end of last week, Fleming's "B" piece was quoted in the 82 5/8 85 1/2 level and the market for the revolver was 81 1/3 85, according to LoanX. Fleming's 101/8% notes also fell from the high 40s context, trading as low as 28 15/16. The company has a $17.7 million interest payment for its 101/8% notes due on April 1, but market players are mixed on whether or not the company will make the coupon. Calls to Mark Shapiro, senior v.p. of finance and operations control, were not returned by press time.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's proposed refinancing will extend debt maturities, improve liquidity and provide a timeframe for turning around the sputtering North American Tire segment. The secured credit facilities have been assigned a prospective Ba2 rating by Moody's Investors Service, reflecting the favorable position created by collateral packages granted to lenders. "The company is moving from unsecured borrowing to collateral-base borrowing and that necessitates changes in its current ratings," said George Meyers, v.p. and senior credit officer at Moody's.

Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas dropped a $50 million "B" loan for Town Sports International last week. The initial $100 million facility now only comprises a $50 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 4%, which was also the pitched rate on the "B" loan. Town Sports, an owner and operator of 130 health clubs in cities from Washington to New England, decided it would get better execution in the bond market, a banker familiar with the situation said, declining to discuss details of the impending bond deal. The loan was almost fully distributed before it was pulled, she noted. A Deutsche Bank official declined to comment, while a BNP banker did not return calls.

ABN Amro has snatched Soh Hang Kwang back from Citigroup/SSB as the new head of Singapore client coverage this week, and brought Ricor da Silveira over from Miami as the head of cash and payments sales and working capital country head. As such da Silveira heads a new team for the region.

AUSTRALASIA Australia

Stephen Long has returned to JP Morgan to head up the ratings advisory practice once again. Long began as a vice president on Monday. He briefly worked as a ratings adviser at BNP Paribas.

Morgan Stanley has taken Andrew Hines, one of Australia's best known and highest rated telecommunications analysts from ABN Amro. Hines was in the spotlight recently for correctly predicting Telstra's stock price falls last year. He will start in May and replace telecoms analyst Scott Brixen, who is leaving to go on sabbatical.

National Power Corp (Napocor) has begun its annual task of meeting its debt targets, mandating Goldman Sachs to do a $400m seven year zero coupon bond and has sent out three different requests for proposals to banks. The first, issued by Napocor itself late last week, is for a $250m bond guaranteed by the Asian Development Bank. The second is for a $500m issue backed by the Philippines. The third is for either a structured bond or a private placement.

Australian non-conforming lenders returned to the market this week for the first time since November 2002. Newcomer Pepper Home Loans priced its debut transaction on Wednesday, while Australia's oldest non-conforming issuer, Liberty Financial, launched the sector's first international deal. Pepper was set up in 2001 by the former management of the UK's Future Mortgages, which was sold to Citigroup. ABN Amro split the A$134m deal into six tranches, including an undisclosed amount of triple-A rated one year ' Z' interest only notes. The A$1.9 year senior notes, rated triple-A by Moody's and Standard & Poor's, came at the wide end of price talk to offer a margin of 62bp over one month BBSW. In comparison, the most recent non-conforming mortgage deal, Bluestone Group's A$200m deal in November, came at 50bp at the one year level. But Bluestone has a slightly longer track record than Pepper, and that deal was the firm's second securitisation. Bluestone's 2.5 year fixed rate tranche gave a spread of 60bp over swaps. Four subordinated tranches were offered to investors. The A$9.1 single-A tranche was priced at 150bp over BBSW, while the A$7.1m triple-B tranche came at 250bp over. A A$3.8m double-B tranche and an unrated A$1.9m piece were privately placed with undisclosed pricing. All but the unrated tranche have average lives of 3.8 years. The latter averages 4.9 years. Legal maturity is in March 2034 and there is a call option in March 2008. "It was good to get the deal away in challenging circumstances," said Rowan Harry, director, securitisation at ABN Amro in Sydney. "The demand was mainly local, speciality funds came in for the lower rated tranches and banks and fund managers took the higher rated ones." The notes are secured on a pool of 1,101 mortgage loans, with an average current loan to value ratio (LVR) of 74.4%. Average seasoning is 7.7 months. As ABN was building the books for Mobius, Macquarie Bank launched the sixth securitisation for Liberty Financial, Australia's leading non-conforming lender. The firm is seeking to diversify its investor base. Liberty Series 2003-1 Trust will be the first non-conforming securitisation to be issued offshore, containing a dollar tranche and a euro tranche. Macquarie, which will price the deal on Monday, structured the deal according to investor interest. A $100m senior tranche, averaging 2.56 years, will be offered to European and Asian investors, while a A$36m equivalent junior tranche with an average life of 3.3 years will be offered privately in euros. In addition, A$150m 0.84 year and A$45.9m 2.56 year senior tranches will be placed domestically. The senior notes are rated triple-A by Moody's and Standard & Poor's, while the junior notes are privately rated. The legal maturity is in April 2030. "We have had a very encouraging response," said Kevin Lee, division director, debt markets at Macquarie in Sydney. "People are curious about it, and they realise that in many ways it is better quality than UK non-conforming.." Price talk for the 0.84 year tranche is in the mid-30s, and for the 2.56 year tranche in the mid-40s. The dollar tranche should come between 48bp and 51bp over Libor. The pool comprises 2,060 mortgages with an average LVR of 76.5%. Average seasoning is only 3.7 months. The highest concentration is in Victoria, which makes up 36% of the portfolio.

The Republic of Korea postponed its $1bn 10 year global bond refinancing this week, blaming the tensions surrounding the Iraq war, the continuing problems with North Korea and accounting scandals at SK Group. Barclays Capital, Citigroup/SSB and Goldman Sachs were joint managers of the deal.

RBS Financial Markets has poached several senior members of ING's Asian securitisation team to set up a new Asian securitisation business, based in Tokyo. John Mullins, head of ING's Asian securitisation group, will take on the same role at RBS. He brings with him Richard Lamb, director, Asian securitisation, and Hiderhiro Katsumata, director, Japanese securitisation.

Australia Centro Properties Group's hostile takeover bid for AMP Shopping Centre Trust (ART) last week could lead to more debt raising in the sector. Centro acquired 19.9% of the trust last week as the start of a hostile takeover bid.