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R.H. Donnelley's $1.55 billion credit, led by Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns and Salomon Smith Barney, has picked up at least $200 million in commitments on the $850 million "B" piece after a Nov. 7 bank meeting, said a banker familiar with the deal. Pricing on the "B" tranche is LIBOR plus 4%, while the spread on the $125 million revolver and the $575 million "A" loan is LIBOR plus 31/ 2%. Bankers on the deal either declined comment or did not return calls.

Traders last week were buzzing about an auction of $75 million of Mirant bank debt that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but by the end of the day most doubted it ever took place. Dealers said they heard an unnamed seller was looking to offload the paper early in the day, but by afternoon noise surrounding the auction had stopped. Several traders noted that the paper did not change hands, and some even said that the auction was not real. "My view is that it was totally false," noted one trader.

European managers seem to be finally catching on to the leveraged loan concept, with approximately nine collateralized loan obligations in the pipeline scheduled for late 2002 or early 2003, including a debut 100% European-loans only deal for Prudential M&G. But this vanguard of managers all looking to launch deals is raising concerns over the amount of collateral available in the market. "Supply is definitely an issue," said Anjali Bastianpillai, associate director of Standard & Poor's structured finance group. "A lot of deals may have the same collateral and so it is difficult to gain diversity," she said.

Allied Waste Industries' bank debt traded up after the company announced that it was able to quickly secure $300 million of senior notes. The proceeds from the transaction will go to pay down Allied Waste's term loans ratably. The news gave the company's term loan "B" a mild boost and traders said the paper was changing hands in the 98-98 1/2 context up from the 97 range. The new notes bear a coupon of 91/ 4%. Questions to Thomas Ryan, cfo, were referred to a spokesman, who did not return calls.

MobileOne (M1), Singapore's second largest cellular operator, last Monday confirmed plans for an IPO that could raise up to S$1.06bn and value the company at up to S$1.51bn. Given the weakness of the Singapore economy and the high penetration rate of wireless operators (and therefore limited subscriber growth potential), the ambitious IPO is being offered at what many bankers consider reasonable valuations.

Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) built on its reputation as one of Asia's savviest borrowers when it rapidly re-opened two of its outstanding 144A bonds for a total of $950m yesterday (Thursday). With investor demand on the rise again and secondary markets looking stable, the Baa1/BBB+ rated borrower took advantage of strong liquidity and raised more funding while it could.

The Asian debt market continues to fire on all cylinders in the run-up to the traditional seasonal close of the markets towards the end of the year. Petroliam Nasional is heading the spate of new deals (see separate story) and the Republic of the Philippines is poised to follow with a $500m 10 year two month issue today (Friday). The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) is looking to launch a $500m five year deal next week, and a set of smaller deals are still expected before the end of the year.

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) closed its initial public offering this week more than five times covered and raised S$239.8m. The popularity of the IPO has led bankers to hope the Singapore Reit sector will move into the mainstream of Singapore's capital markets.

Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Metropolitan Bank and Trust (Metrobank) overcame market detractors and terrorism fears with two sub-investment grade subordinated bonds this week. The lower tier two transactions were targeted to take advantage of private bank demand for high yield emerging market paper following the reduction in US interest rates.

Westpac and Commonwealth Bank of America this week launched the second securitisation for Australian non-conforming lender Bluestone Group. Non-conforming mortgages are a new feature in the Australian market, and Bluestone was founded as recently as 2000, with warehouse funding from Nomura and Barclays. Its first securitisation was a A$130m issue in April 2002.

China The Hainan Meilan Airport IPO was this week was priced at almost the top end of the range after receiving orders for 10 times the stock on offer.

Despite the distractions of a new ¥30bn five year Samurai bond issue, Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) finally unveiled its long awaited restructuring of its outstanding bond guarantee profile. The new guarantees are part of Kepco's aim to privatise six wholly owned generation companies (gencos) that were spun off from the power utility in April 2001.