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Casella Waste Systems' $150 million "B" loan blew out after launching last Tuesday, prompting lead banks, Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial, to slap LIBOR plus 31/ 4% pricing on the institutional piece. That pricing was the low end of the previous LIBOR plus 31/ 4-31 /2% price talk range, said a banker familiar with the deal. The $325 million credit also includes a $175 million revolver with pricing at LIBOR plus 3%. "We're trying to position our balance sheet," said Richard Norris, senior v.p., cfo and treasurer of Casella, declining to comment specifically on the blowout. Casella plans to use the proceeds from the credit and a concurrent note offering to repay its current facility. Norris also noted that the proceeds would go toward acquiring more disposal sites (see story, page 4). A B of A official declined to comment, while a Fleet banker did not return calls.

A handful of collateralized loan obligations are making the rounds and looking to take advantage of an improved market that had slowed to a crawl at the end of 2002. Insurance companies, foreign institutions and funds of funds seem to be picking up their checkbooks again, and that is coloring a healthier pipeline for CLOs and an increased demand for loan products, according to managers. There are between 10 to 15 deals in the pipeline, according to research by Christopher Flanagan, managing director and head, global structured finance research at J.P. Morgan.

Christopher Wilcox has joined ABN Amro as a v.p. and collateralized debt obligation structurer from TD Securities. He started January 17 and reports to Fernando Guerrero, global head of CDOs. Guerrero himself joined ABN Amro last year from TD Securities, where he was the structured product group's head for three years. The position is newly created, as ABN Amro wants to build its CDO team for both its New York and London offices (BW, 11/3). Wilcox is based in New York.

TRW Automotive's $1.81 billion acquisition bank deal is finally steering into the U.S. retail market today, but many prospective investors are idling in neutral on the credit's hefty $900 million "B" piece. Market players are weighing the mammoth size of the loan, the company's 3.5 times total leverage and declining margin figures-- all against the backdrop of a lackluster auto industry. "The auto sector's a tough sector. There's a lot of problems there," one buysider noted. "I would expect mixed reviews on this," a banker acknowledged, but stated that TRW is one of the strongest names in its sector. The credit backs The Blackstone Group's $4.7 billion buyout of Northrop Grumman's TRW Automotive business, announced last quarter.

Jonathan Laredo, formerly co-head of securitization at J.P. Morgan Securities in London, has been replaced by Ed Giera, who was head of the debt origination team of the financial institutions group. The moves are part of an overall realignment of J.P. Morgan's London-based credit business. Tamara Adler remains as co-head of securitization.

Roughly $20-30 million of Kmart's bank debt changed hands last week as the company rushed to file a disclosure statement Friday, as Loan Market Week went to press. Dealers said pieces of the company's 364-day revolver and three-year facility changed hands in the 34-35 range. The buzz suggested that Edward Lampert of ESL Investments was coming back to the table offering to help fund a buyout of the company's bank debt, albeit with a few tweaks to the original agreement. Calls to Lampert were not returned by press time.

Lehman Brothers has moved Jan Dillow, senior v.p., from her position as an analyst covering the high-grade retail and consumer products sectors, to a newly created spot focusing on Latin American corporate credit. Dillow says the firm wants to beef up its coverage of certain Latin American corporates that are not trading as much as the firm feels they should. She will continue to report to Jim Asselstine, head of high-grade research.

Market players are renewing their interest in Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp., and speculate that the company will pursue an initial public offering and a new note issue. While the levels for the company's second lien loan are resting in the 98-99 context, the revisited recapitalization buzz has come with the perceived strength of the high-yield market and its reception to other entertainment companies, such as Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment. "[The bond market is] the first one in the water," commented one dealer, noting that if the bond market stays strong, bank deals will follow.

Merrill Lynch has reshuffled its structured finance operation by merging the global structured credit products, new product development and reinsurance groups into an expanded unit called global structured products. Steve Padovano, managing director, who had been head of the global structured credit products group, has been shifted out of that role. The timing for this move, which was finalized two weeks ago, appears related to efforts within the bank to streamline the structured finance business, says a person familiar with the situation.

Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch launched retail syndication of Penn National Gaming's $800 million acquisition credit last Thursday. Pricing on the $600 million "B" piece is LIBOR plus 31/ 2%. A banker familiar with the deal said there were some commitments straight out of the bank meeting, but an amount could not be confirmed. When launched at the managing agent level, the spread was LIBOR plus 3%. The pricing on the $100 million revolver and $100 million "A" piece increased from LIBOR plus 23/ 4% to LIBOR plus 3%. The banker said the pricing increases are in sync with the expected B+/B1 ratings on the credit. Multiples are 3.1 times senior leverage and 4.7 times total leverage. Bear Stearns and Merrill bankers declined comment.

Lead manager Deutsche Bank last Friday priced the first Australian RMBS of the year, a $1bn offering for Macquarie Securitisation Ltd. The deal is the third global securitisation under the Puma programme, taking the originator's total SEC registered issuance to $3.2bn. The senior tranche of Puma Global Trust No 3, with an average life of 3.32 years, was priced at 23bp over Libor. Originally the unofficial price talk was 20bp-22bp, but it widened 2bp during marketing in the face of competition from the multi-billion Granite 2003-1 RMBS for Northern Rock. Puma's last global deal came at 16bp over in June 2002.

Mandated arrangers RZB launched syndication of the $20m four year 'B' loan for BankTuranAlem yesterday (Thursday). Syndication has been targeted at a limited number of banks. Three tickets are on offer: arranger for $3m; co-arranger for $2m; and lead manager for $1m. The deal carries an all-in margin moving from 350bp-360bp over the life of the loan. The credit has an average life of two years as banks have the option of requesting prepayment after that time. For more details see EuroWeek 786.