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First Source Corporation Investment Advisors Inc. is looking to add up to $100 million in spread product this quarter in a bid to add yield. Paul Gifford, portfolio manager of $650 million in taxable fixed-income, says the bulk of the purchases will be corporates, as stability in the equity and corporate bond markets over the past three months has convinced him that the downside risk is no longer as severe as it appeared last summer. Gifford sees no specific trigger for the trades. Rather, he says the firm will add incrementally throughout the first quarter.

In banking, ya gotta be tough if you want to land the big fish. That elbows-out mentality is coming to the fore in Fox's new reality TV show, Joe Millionaire. Heidi, a business banker and one of the ladies vying for the heart of the humble bachelor, relied on her banker instincts to weed out the competition. In one situation, where the 20 contestants had to pick from a room of 20 dresses, Heidi immediately snapped up two of the best dresses to ensure that she would be dazzling for the ball. She's advancing to the next round.

Lombard Odier, which has $9 billion in fixed-income assets under management, is looking to go underweight gilts and reinvest in European government bonds, but is waiting for gilts to outperform European government bonds by 20 basis points before selling them. Jonathan Cunlisse, a government bond portfolio manager in London, says he will make the move because he sees some further convergence between long-term gilt yields and long-term European government bond yields and a heavy supply of gilts could weigh on the market. As of last Tuesday, benchmark bunds were yielding 4.89% and benchmark gilts 4.56%.

Microcell's bank debt surged on increased speculation that Rogers Wireless would soon make a bid for the struggling company. In addition, Microcell has committed to a restructuring plan that is boosting the name. Pieces of the bank debt were said to have changed hands in the 58, 61 1/2, and 62 1/2 ranges after climbing up out of the 50s last week. About two months ago, the bank debt levels began to rise from the 20s as lenders anticipated a restructuring that would be favorable to bank debt holders.

Before joining Deerfield, Roberts was Chief Investment Officer at Liberty Hampshire and several Zurich Insurance Company subsidiaries including Scudder Kemper Investments, Zurich Investment Management and Centre Re.

Bram Smith, head of loan syndications at Morgan Stanley, is leaving the securities firm seven years after he joined to start a loan syndication business. Smith declined comment, but a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman confirmed that he was scheduled to depart the firm. His last day on the desk was Friday and he officially leaves the firm at the end of the month. Bankers said Smith's role at Morgan Stanley had diminished some over the past few years, surmising his reasons for departure. Smith left his spot as co-head of the syndications group at Bankers Trust to join Morgan Stanley in 1996, when investment banks were raiding commercial banks for seasoned pros that could get lending efforts off the ground. Lucy Galbraith, a managing director at Morgan Stanley, is reportedly filling Smith's shoes upon exit, but the spokeswoman could not confirm this. Galbraith did not return calls for comment.

Standard Bank hired Greg Gonzalez, an emerging markets bond trader from WestLB. Gonzalez started last Monday. The position is a newly created one for the New York-based branch office of the South African bank. Gonzalez says he will trade Latin American corporate bonds, as he did at WestLB, plus some more exotic sovereign bonds from Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Uruguay. The broadening of his trading experience is one of the reasons for his move, he explains.

Synthetic collateralized debt obligation volumes rocketed from European issuers last year, while the number of cash flow deals remained, at best, flat, according to BW sister publication Derivatives Week. End-of-year figures obtained by DW, due to be published by the rating agencies in the coming weeks, show the number of synthetic CDOs increasing up to threefold, whereas cash-flow deals have either stagnated or fallen. "What I thought might take five or six years happened in two years. The speed surprised me," said Ebo Coleman, v.p. and senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service in London.

Arturo Cifuentes and Jonathan Polansky have left collateralized debt obligation shop Triton Partners in New York where they were portfolio managers. Cifuentes confirmed his resignation effective last Monday via e-mail, but did not respond to e-mails seeking further information. An insider at Triton confirmed Polansky's departure as well. Polansky could not be reached for comment. They both reported to Simon Mikhailovich, co-founding partner, and Michael Sollott, co-founder and cio. Sollott and Mikhailovich declined to comment.

Arturo Cifuentes and Jonathan Polansky have left collateralized debt obligation shop Triton Partners in New York where they were portfolio managers. Cifuentes confirmed his resignation, effective last Monday, via e-mail, but did not respond to e-mails seeking further information. Sources confirmed Polansky's departure as well. Polansky could not be reached for comment. They both reported to Simon Mikhailovich, co-founding partner, and Michael Sollott, co-founder and cio. Mikhailovich declined to comment on the departures.

Kinetic Concepts, a specialty hospital supply manufacturer, has reached a favorable settlement with Hillenbrand Industries, whereby Kinetic Concepts will receive a total of $250 million from Hillenbrand. Standard & Poor's has reacted to this development by upgrading Kinetic Concepts from B to B+ and assigning a stable outlook to the credit. The company plans to use the net proceeds from a first-stage $175 million payment to pay down the company's credit facility. "We plan on making a voluntary pre-payment this year," said Marty Landon, Kinetic cfo. He explained that roughly $105 million will be distributed across all the tranches on a pro rata basis in January.

Scotia Capital, Salomon Smith Barney and Bank of America are still plugging away on Levi Strauss & Co.'s $800 million refinancing deal, topping the $300 million mark in commitments for the $400 million "B" piece. Bankers familiar with the deal said that the holiday period slowed up syndication, blowing the commitment deadline originally set for Dec. 23. However, pricing has not changed. Bankers noted that the spread is still set at LIBOR plus 4% for the term loan and LIBOR plus 31/ 2% on the $400 million revolver. Levi Strauss currently has a B1-rated, $1.05 billion facility with the three banks that matures 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 did not return calls.