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Banif, one of Portugal's largest banks, is readying its first residential mortgage-backed securitization, according to London-based bankers. The deal, which should be about E500 million, will come to market in the coming weeks and is being lead-managed by Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank.

Rumpke Consolidated chose Bank of America to lead its new $110 million credit facility, allowing the company to refinance debt that included a high-interest subordinated piece. B of A replaces incumbent General Electric Capital Corp., partly due to B of A's prominence in the waste industry. "Bank of America is widely known and respected in the waste industry," said Phil Wehrman, Rumpke cfo. In addition, "GECC is considered by some to be a lender of last resort. We thought we would have a better chance of success to fill the facility [with B of A as lead]," he explained. GECC did, however, take on a large exposure to the new credit, he added. Calls to GECC were not returned.

The recent high-yield rally has provided investors with an opportunity to pick up the bonds of Lyondell Chemical Co. at a discount to its peers in the sector, says a sell-side analyst. However, at least one portfolio manager is not ready to increase his allocation to the credit, which is a benchmark issuer in the high-yield chemical sector.

Simplicity Manufacturing has completed its largest credit facility-- for $135 million-- in more than a decade to back its acquisition of lawn mower manufacturer, Snapper, for approximately $56 million. Don Schoonenberg, executive v.p. of finance and administration at Simplicity, a portfolio company of private equity firm Kohlberg & Company, said it's the company's first syndicated facility since the 1980s. Because the lawn mower and tractor maker had much smaller credits in the past, its facilities had been club deals, explained Al Meier, executive v.p. at Fleet Capital, lead bank on the deal. Fleet has been doing business with Simplicity since the early 1990s, Schoonenberg added. The new line replaced a previous $45 million revolver, he further noted.

Standard & Poor's has hired Ellen Collins as senior collateralized debt obligation analyst for its CDO manager focus group, which is headed by Mark Gaw, associate director. Collins joins as associate director. She started last Thursday. The position is newly created as the group is expanding (BW, 10/13). Gaw says the addition of Collins brings the number of analysts who work under his supervision to three. He says that he will be adding a fourth by the end of this quarter. The group provides reports on CDO collateral manager's performance relative to their peers.

Levels for Tesoro Petroleum Corp.'s bank debt ticked up in the secondary loan market last week as the paper rose from the low 90s into the 95-97 range. Traders said no paper changed hands. One trader suggested the name was climbing on the back of Premcor, a St. Louis-based company that is currently pursuing an acquisition of the Williams Company's Memphis refinery. In addition, crack spreads have held their ground, he added. Tesoro's $1.275 billion credit facility is led by Lehman Brothers. Calls to Sharon Layman, Tesoro v.p. and treasurer, were not returned by press time.

Accounting experts and collateralized debt obligation analysts say low interest rates and an arcane accounting rule will prevent the number of CDO write-downs from ballooning. They say that even with the avalanche of downgrades affecting the CDO collateral, low interest rates support high valuations on the CDO bond prices. Low interest rates also provide accounting relief as they increase the price of other fixed-income instruments. Since CDO performance is booked on a net basis, losses in CDOs may be offset by profits on other bonds in a portfolio and never appear on the books. This is reinforced by the Emerging Issues Task Force rule 99-20, governing CDO write-downs, which analysts say, leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Finally, the lack of transparency in the CDO secondary market allows investors to avoid booking their CDO performances as losses, as they inflate the market value of their CDO notes.

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association elected its 2003 board of directors and board officers at its annual meeting last week. Glenn Stewart, managing director and head of loan syndicate for Banc of America Securities is the new chairman, whileCredit Suisse First Boston'sDon Pollard, managing director and head of loan syndicate, is the vice chairman. Stewart replaces Linda Bammann, chief risk officer ofBank One. Mike McAdams, President and CIO of Four Corners Capital Management, was last year's vice chair.

Ivy Asset Management plans to ramp up and have its $150-200 million collateralized fund obligation ready to price in March, a few months behind schedule, according to a collateralized debt obligation market participant. The deal, originally slated for pricing in the fourth quarter, was delayed because Ivy, the collateral manager, was busy putting together two protected principal notes, he says. John Rogers, president of the Garden City, N.Y.-asset management firm, declined to comment. Wachovia Securities will underwrite the deal, which is backed by hedge fund-of-funds. Tom Wickwire, the head of Wachovia's credit structured product group in Charlotte, did not return calls.

Oak Hill Advisors is ramping up a new $400 million collateralized loan obligation called Oak Hill Credit Partners II. The vehicle is said to be close to pricing with Deutsche Bank as the underwriter. The vehicle will contain up to 70% loans with the balance in a bond bucket, according to a source familiar with the transaction. One issue the vehicle is now facing is ramping up while collateral is scarce, added a portfolio manager. "Allocations are tough right now, a little skinny," she said. The wide spreads over recent months have led to attractive opportunities for equity buyers, an analyst said, leading to a relatively strong pipeline for new CLOs. Two weeks ago, over $100 million of directories names traded, with several market players attributing the boost to large amounts of cash looking for a home (LMW, 1/13).

Olympic Steel closed a new $132 million credit that locks in lower rates than those on its previous $125 million line. "At the time we did the last one, [the steel market] was terrible," said Richard Marabito, cfo and treasurer, explaining the rough market conditions for the industry when the previous three-year agreement was signed in June 2001. He explained that the new three-year deal lowered the borrowing rate by about 175 basis points.