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Barclays Capital wants to beef up its U.S.-based securitization research effort by adding a home equity analyst by the end of the first quarter, according to a firm insider. The analyst would report to London-based William Lloyd, head of securitization research. Lloyd declined to comment.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has added Steve DiTursi to its corporate bond trading desk as it looks to grow its fixed-income business, according to Craig Coats, co-head of fixed-income. DiTursi will trade utilities and industrials. He joins from RW Pressprich & Co., where he was the head of corporate bond trading. He declined comment. RW Pressprich's plans to replace DiTursi could not be determined. A call to Ed Rappa, the firm's chairman, was not returned.

Kevin Wilson is v.p. and treasurer of Solutia Inc., an applied chemistry company and high-yield issuer based in St. Louis.

Kmart's bank debt shot up after the company announced that it was close to filing a reorganization plan. The company's three-year credit facility was said to have traded into the 32-33 range, up from the mid-20s, where it has been languishing since before the holiday season. Although net sales for the holiday season decreased 5.7% this year, the bank debt climbed as creditors began to see an end in sight for the bankruptcy process.

Scotia Capital, Salomon Smith Barney and Bank of America have closed the book on Levi Strauss & Co.'s $400 million "B" piece which was oversubscribed by a significant amount, said a banker familiar with the deal. The institutional piece was sold at 991/ 2. He was unable to say by how much the deal was oversubscribed. Pricing did not change on the $800 million debt package. The pricing is still set at LIBOR plus 4% for the term loan and LIBOR plus 31/ 2% on the $400 million revolver. The deal refinances Levi Strauss' B1-rated, $1.05 billion facility with the three banks that was to mature in August of this year. Credit Suisse First Boston, FleetBoston Financial and J.P. Morgan have committed to the revolver. Scotia and B of A officials declined to comment, while a Salomon official could not be reached by press time.

Fabien Pictet & Partners, a London-based hedge fund boutique specializing in emerging markets, is introducing a long/short fund dedicated to emerging market debt. The fund, called GEMs Bond Fund, will start trading next month, says Julian Jacobson, portfolio manager. GEMs is the firm's fourth fund, but the first dedicated to emerging market debt. Fabien Pictet & Partners has $200 million under management.

GMAC-RFC and GMAC Commercial Mortgage are planning large European securitizations this year. GMAC-RFC should be the first to market with a £1 billion residential mortgage-backed securitization. GMAC Commercial is expected to bring out its first European commercial mortgage-backed deal through its conduit program later in the year, say London-based bankers. "In 2002, GMACCM Europe completed in excess of E1 billion in European transactions. Our current pipeline is very strong, and we are very optimistic about 2003. We see securitizations playing an increasingly active role in financing in Europe," says James Dalton, president of GMAC Commercial in Dublin.

Some senior tranches of fixed-rate collateralized debt obligations are trading at significant premiums on the secondary market. Some sell-side analysts say the premiums are caused by the low interest rate environment, and note that the situation is rare because secondary CDO notes rarely trade above par.

The $400 million "B" loan backing the $1.66 billion acquisition of Houghton-Mifflin was a blowout after launching to retail last Tuesday. The tranche, led by Goldman Sachs, CIBC World Markets and Deutsche Bank, was oversubscribed by just under four times. "It's a business that the market was able to understand," a banker said, explaining why the credit did well in syndication. The lead arrangers will cut back allocations to investors rather than increase the size of the tranche, he added. He dismissed reports that the "B" had been reduced to $250 million, with the difference made up through a bond piece. Officials at the lead banks declined comment.

HSBC Bank, a relatively new entrant to the European securitization market, is setting its sights on becoming an important market player. After a slew of hires made last year to fill senior positions on the securitization team, the firm is now looking at garnering a spot on the European securitization league tables, according to Robert Drutman, London-based head of European structured product syndicate and product manager.

A $35 million piece of Xerox Corp.'s revolver, "A" term loan and "B" tranche was auctioned off last Thursday for a combined price of 93 1/2, according to dealers. Bank of Ireland is believed to have sold the paper, but a buyer could not be determined. There was no event that triggered the sell-off, according to market players. Some traders suggested that the price of the bank debt has been climbing up and the bank simply gained approval to sell off the paper. Individually, the revolver has been trading in the low 90s up from the mid-80s. The "A" and "B" pieces are quoted as high as 95-96 up from the low-to-mid 90s levels, where they were trading late last year.

Fleming Companies' bank debt slipped down to the 93-94 range last week as investors grappled with the company's downward-revised fourth quarter earnings estimates and the pressure from Kmart store closings. The paper had been quoted in the 97-98 1/2 range before the announcements. "The bonds got hammered 15 points," noted one trader. The company's 101/ 8% notes were quoted in the 74 1/3- 74 2/3 range when LMW went to press. Fleming revised its fourth quarter earnings to 10 to 12 cents per share, down from its October estimates between 35 and 45 cents per share. "Fleming receives 20% of its revenues from Kmart and Kmart is closing half of its superstores," added one trader. Calls to Fleming officials were not returned by press time.