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Hispamer, Spain's largest consumer lender, is preparing Santander Consumer Finance--a special purpose vehicle through which it plans to securitize at least E3 billion per year in loans originated in Spain, Italy and Germany, says Eduardo San Martin, managing director of treasury and finance in Madrid. The program will start next year. Investment banks have not been mandated for any deals and San Martin says deals will be put out for bid on an issue-by-issue basis.

A report recently published by Standard & Poor's that contains wildly diverging actual recovery rate data for defaults in collateralized debt obligations has left many credit derivatives professionals scratching their heads over the huge variations. The data shows the U.S. dollar amount CDO investors were able to recover on corporate credits after the names had defaulted and therefore how much money they lost.

Wyndham International's term loan "B" traded in the 79 context before changing hands slightly above 80, noted market players. One dealer suggested that the paper was propped up on expectations that as the economy recovers Wyndham will do better. "But is the economy improving?" another dealer questioned, pointing out the company's weak cash flow for the last quarter. According to a company statement, pro forma EBITDA for the third quarter was $55.2 million, down 14.5% compared to last year. Questions to Richard Smith, Wyndham cfo, were referred to a spokesman, who did not return calls.

John Tormondsen, the former head of liquid capital markets at Goldman Sachs, and Raif Ezratty, the former head of fixed-income trading at high-profile hedge fund Moore Capital, are in the process of raising capital for a hedge fund called Zpoint Advisors. Ezratty, reached on his cell phone, says "if it's in the document, it's true," referring to an offering circular for the new fund. A portion of the offering circular was read to BondWeek by potential investors in the fund who had received it. Ezratty declined further comment. Tormondsen, known as "Turbo" for many years, did not return a call by press time last Friday morning. The fund, says hedge fund pros who have the offering circular, will be relative value in scope, albeit with a directional component.

Over the past 35 years, the Federal Reserve has attempted to manipulate the economy through monetary policy. The basic theory behind this policy--monetarism--was a belief that the growth in the quantity of money would affect economic activity. The theory stipulated that the Fed would maintain a specified growth target for various measures of the money supply and then manage policy, i.e., manipulate interest rates, to control the growth of money. The problem with this money-growth relationship is that, as a point of logic, it can be shown that with today's policy of a floating exchange rate for the U.S. dollar, causation runs from the economy to the aggregates, and not vice versa.

UBS Warburg is fully underwriting a five-year, $250 million credit for Hollywood Entertainment Corp., which will refinance existing debt. The line consists of a $200 million term loan and a $50 million revolver. Hollywood's existing $175 million facility is also led by UBS with a $150 million "B" piece priced at LIBOR plus 4%, as well as a $25 million revolver priced at LIBOR plus 31/ 2%. The new term piece is expected to extend the maturity profile of Hollywood's capital structure and improve the company's medium term liquidity position, according to Moody's Investors Service, which rated the credit Ba3. The new bank deal is in concurrence with plans for a sale of $200 million in senior subordinated notes due 2011. Wilsonville, Ore.-based Hollywood operates the second largest video chain in the US. Jim Marcum, cfo of Hollywood, and UBS bankers did not return calls.

U.S. Can Corp.'s bank debt has climbed back considerably over the last couple of weeks into the 84 1/2 to 87 context from the low 80s. No trades could be confirmed but, traders suggested the paper has regained some ground because of better prospects for the company and the economy in general. Others suggested that the name was just stronger in line with improvements in the rest of the market.

Valassis Communications took a shine to ABN Amro subsidiary Standard Federal Bank's service-oriented style, illustrated through the bank's employee-based service offerings. This landed Standard Federal the sole lead on the company's new $125 million revolver, said Robert Recchia, executive v.p. and cfo of Valassis. "[Standard Federal] did a nice job over the past 12 months and wanted to do more," he stated, explaining that Standard Federal had implemented a bank-at-work program for the company, along with an on-site ATM machine at the Livonia, Mich., headquarters.

NDCHealth has completed its first term loan "B" and high-yield offering in conjunction with a larger recapitalization plan, noted Randolph Hutto, NDC's cfo. The company decided to pursue a recapitalization plan because the need to refinance roughly $145 million in convertibles due November 2003 was putting pressure on NDC's stock price, Hutto explained. Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston led the senior debt financing. With the new funds now in place, the Atlanta-based provider of health information services is looking to redeem all of the notes on Dec. 26.

Porsche Holdings will start a E220 million conduit financing program next year through ABN AMRO, says Jochen Stich, group treasurer. Stich says Porsche is opting for the asset-backed commercial paper route because it has a need for continuous financing. ABN was tapped for the deal because the firm brought Porsche's first term deal to market in 2001. Ultimately, Porsche will go for a term deal, says Stich, but that will not happen until 2004.

Premcor Refining Group's pending $465 million acquisition of the Williams Company's Memphis refinery and $170 million of inventory, could have positive effects on Premcor's bank debt rating. The $315 million base purchase price is potentially appealing and the proposed financing is supportive of sustaining a long-term growth-by-acquisition strategy in a volatile sector.Moody's Investors Service has placed the Ba2 rating on the $650 million revolver and term loan facility on review for upgrade.

Japanese consumer finance firm Orico Corp this week tapped the international market for the 10th time through its Oscar auto loan securitisation programme. Oscar Funding Corp X, arranged and led by Mizuho International issued $163.5m and Eu151m of bonds rated triple-A by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Oscar was helped by relatively generous pricing - both tranches, averaging only 1.36 years, offered a spread of 35bp over the respective floating rates. Yet this was still 10bp inside this week's Globaldrive issue from Ford.