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Deutsche Bank and UBS Warburg filled out the $500 million "B" loan for Amphenol less than a week after launch despite some grumblings from investors that the deal would need higher pricing and more than stock-security to sell the credit. The seven-year term loan is priced at LIBOR plus 21/2%. "People did raise [the security] as an issue, [but] people got over it," said a banker familiar with the deal. He said a chunk of buysiders did shy away from the deal, but there was still a good amount that invested.

Ethyl Corp.'s $115 million "B" term loan oversubscribed last week after Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS Warburg increased the spread from LIBOR plus 4% to LIBOR plus 41/2%. A banker said syndication had been moving somewhat slowly after launching on April 2, with investors raising concerns over both security and pricing. But after the pricing boost and some added amortization, about 20 investors were expected to sign onto the credit. One source said BlackRock and Conseco were close to investing in the credit, but officials at both firms declined comment. The deal includes a $50 million revolver with a spread of 31/2% over LIBOR. The banker said the revolver was still waiting on more commitments, but he expected it to fill out this week. Bankers at CSFB and UBS declined comment.

Manor Care, a long-term healthcare provider, has switched its focus to short-stay patients from custodial-type patients, creating more profitability and reducing competition from other assisted living centers, according to Moody's Investors Service. But while the successful transition of the business model is a factor in the Ba1 rating of Manor Care's $200 million unsecured credit, Moody's also considers that the company has subsequently taken on more risk through increased dependence on Medicare patients.

C&D Technologies is talking to banks about the refinancing of a $220 million credit facility that expires in March 2004. Bank of America leads C&D's current deal, but Stephen Markert, C&D cfo, said he did not know if the bank would remain as the lead on a new facility. C&D is shopping the loan and is being approached by other banks. He explained that C&D is looking for a lead that will not only form a good relationship, but also bring the best proposal. "Clearly, pricing will be very important," he said. Markert declined to comment on the banks that the company is considering. A B of A spokeswoman declined comment.

Lyon Capital Management, an arm of Credit Lyonnais that manages loan assets in structured vehicles, is in the market with a new collateralized loan obligation. Goldman Sachs and Credit Lyonnais are joint underwriters for the $325 million cash-flow arbitrage vehicle called LCM Limited Partnership I, said a source. Krishna Chauhan, an official at Lyon, declined comment. A CDO banker at Goldman Sachs and officials within Credit Lyonnais' asset securitization group did not return calls. The firm also completed its $400 million Lyon Capital CLO last year, brought to market via Goldman Sachs.

Australia BHP Billiton priced an $850m SEC registered bond on Monday, prompting Australia's domestic secondary market to rally for the first time in two weeks.

Australia Royal&SunAlliance's efforts to sell its Australian and New Zealand operations Promina in an Australian IPO are likely to succeed, according to observers in Sydney and Melbourne.

John Fairfax Holdings raised A$305m from local and overseas institutional investors on Monday to help fund its A$1.19bn acquisition of more than 80 New Zealand-based publishing titles. The capital raising was priced at A$2.77 a share, a discount of 8.6% to the closing price for the stock in Sydney last Friday. That was close to the lower end of the discount range of 5%-10% during marketing.

AUSTRALASIA Australia

PT Bank Mandiri Persero took the market by storm when it returned for a $300m five year Reg S bond last Friday. The deal was a success in almost every respect. It was priced through the originally indicated yield targets and offered by far the lowest coupon level ever from an Indonesian borrower, but still built a huge order book of over $1bn.

Morgan Stanley completed the sale of $50m of convertible bonds for Panva Gas Holdings on Friday after two days of marketing. Panva Gas is a Hong Kong-listed company with extensive China interests. This was the first ever convertibles sale for a company listed on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market and represents a considerable achievement, given how little was known about the company beforehand and the continuing blight of the Sars virus.

Australia Heritage Building Society yesterday (Wednesday) priced the last Australian securitisation before the markets shut down for Easter. SG was lead manager on the A$350.2m deal, called HBS Trust 2003-1.