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Wachovia Securities is merging its real estate financial services group into the fixed-income division as part of a broader re-alignment of its entire bond platform by business lines rather than function. The adoption of a model used by many of its more established competitors is a response to the firm's growth over the past several years, says a banker at the Charlotte-based investment bank. Ben Williams, the recently crowned head of the expanded fixed-income division, says the main effect of the move is the integration of structured product origination and distribution.

Rich Roche has left Barclays Capital, where he was an investment-grade trader based in New York, according to people at the firm. Roche was a director and head trader last year, but his title at the time he left could not be determined. Barclays has made some senior trading hires from Deutsche Bank in recent weeks (BW, 8/11, 9/15) including Mark Jicka, who is slated to become head of the desk once he joins the firm. John Stathis, head of fixed-income sales and research for the Americas, declined comment.

Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Ba3 rating toGenesis Health Ventures' $200 million "B" term loan. The add-on credit backs the company's acquisition of institutional pharmacy provider NCS HealthCare and will be used to refinance outstanding NCS debt, including $206 million of senior debt.

Last week saw deterioration in a number of credits. Autos and towers drifted lower, and a number of new issues are said to be on hold. Tech issues were also weaker after bad numbers from chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices. Here is other action.

Levels for Magellan Health Services' bank debt have been falling over the past couple of weeks as the company worked to refinance its bank facility before Sept. 30 to avoid covenant violations. The company's term loan "B" has sunk from the 90s into the low 80s since the company announced that it is now pursuing a comprehensive capital restructuring plan with the help of Gleacher Partners, rather than a bank loan refinancing.

UBM, the investment banking arm of Unicredito Italiano, is studying the viability of launching an asset-backed commercial paper conduit. Massimo Bianchi, head of debt capital markets in Milan, says, the firm currently is trying to understand whether such a vehicle would be worth establishing and is drawing up a business plan. He declined further comment. A banker at a rival firm in Milan notes that there are a lot of prospects for ABCP conduits in Italy, especially among medium-sized corporates. Strategically, the establishment of an Italian-domiciled ABCP would be good for UBM because the banker expects a huge development in the Italian market for this kind of vehicle. He notes that it is more cost-efficient for medium-sized Italian corporates--that are increasingly seeking to securitize trade receivables--to use ABCP rather than a term securitization.

Lehman Brothers has made a number of personnel changes to its high-yield research and trading groups.

Lehman Brothers has placed two of its short-term agency traders, Brian Stocker and Patrick Scheideler, on administrative leave pending the conclusion of an internal investigation involving charges that the two improperly traded bonds with Randy Pitino, an agency broker at Euro Brokers, who was let go. The allegations and investigation were confirmed by several Lehman executives. Central to the allegations is the charge that Stocker and Scheideler improperly gave Pitino trading authority over a large block of notes which they had originally purchased and positioned. Pitino, reached at his home, confirmed that he has been dismissed, but said that the allegations that it was for anything illegal are "totally inaccurate." He says he has never heard of the two Lehman traders. He declined to name his supervisor at Euro Brokers, saying, "I don't think he's there any longer." A Lehman employee said the two traders were not reporting to their desks for the duration of the investigation. Stocker did not respond to a message left at his home; Scheideler was not able to be located for comment. Woody Jay, the head of government and agency bond trading at Lehman, said "I can't comment on this matter right now, on or off the record. It is a highly sensitive issue, being handled internally by compliance." The leaves at Lehman are said to have been enacted in the last week of September, although it could not be learned when the trading activity in question is alleged to have occurred.

The £1.2 billion securitization of future government payments to the infrastructure consortium mandated to upgrade and maintain the London Underground network is set to be priced next month. The Metronet deal is being lead-managed by Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS Warburg and will feature monoline wraps from AMBAC Asset Assurance and Financial Security Assurance, thus garnering a triple-A rating. It will be launched "sooner rather than later," unless some unforeseen legal problems arise, according to a banker involved in the deal. This banker

American Capital Access has hired Laura Schwartz as a managing director responsible for asset-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities, says Cathy Bailey, a spokeswoman at the buy-side firm. Schwartz, who joins from Merrill Lynch, where she was a director in the asset-backed finance group, replaces Ken Mulford, who recently joined Salomon Smith Barney's mortgage finance division (BW, 8/4). She will directly report to Maryam Muessel, coo. ACA is a New York-based insurance company that originates ABS and collateralized debt obligations as well as managing a portfolio of structured finance investments.

Agrilink Foods has secured a new $470 million credit facility as part of a larger recapitalization plan that included a $175 million equity investment by the company's new sponsor, Vestar Capital Partners. According to Earl Powers, cfo, the Rochester, N.Y., frozen-food processing company decided to undertake a recapitalization because it needed more long-term capital in the business for growth. "As a [subsidiary of Pro-Fac Cooperative], we were highly leveraged," Powers said. "[To stay competitive], we needed more capital and more flexibility than our current capital structure would allow."

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Arrow Electronics' senior unsecured debt rating and its $625 million credit facility from Baa1 to Baa3. The downgrade reflects Moody's expectation that operating performance and debt protection measures will remain under pressure over the intermediate term. Moody's noted that Arrow has had weak earnings in its current six-quarter downturn, and the prospect for revenue growth is limited over the next year because of uncertain global economies and cautious information technology and consumer spending.