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Advanced Medical Optics has secured a $135 million credit facility and issued $200 million in notes in order to complete its spin-off from Allergan. The financing was set up through the new Santa Ana, Calif., company rather than through its former parent so that Advanced Medical would not have too many inter-company relationships, according to Richard Meier, cfo. Setting up the financing this way also provided Advanced Medical with the opportunity to prove to the marketplace that it was a sound, stand-alone company, he explained.

Alliance Capital has promoted Michael Snyder to director of high yield, in charge of a group overseeing some $10 billion in assets, according to a person at the firm. Snyder replaces Greg Dube, who left Alliance last month (BW, 8/11). Prior to the promotion, Snyder had been a portfolio manager and senior v.p. at Alliance, which he joined last year. He has previously worked as head of high yield at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Asset Management and Bear Stearns Asset Management. He also worked for some 10 years in the high-yield money management group at Prudential Securities. He will report to Kathleen Corbet, ceo of fixed-income. Snyder declined comment.

A $1.85 billion multi-currency bank deal backing Ball Corp.'s $900 million acquisition of Schmalbach-Lubeca of Germany is expected to hit the market next month, and investors are licking their chops. Buysiders say the company is a solid play, and one banker whose bank is not leading the deal said the credit's institutional piece would be a home run. Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, BANK ONE and Lehman Brothers have landed lead roles on the deal. Raymond Seabrook, cfo of Ball, said in a conference call that the acquisition would be financed completely with debt.

The market buzzed with talk of a $50 million trade of Global Crossing's bank debt in the 15 context last week. Bear Stearns is believed to be one of the major participants in the trade. Officials at Bear Stearns could not be reached by press time.

ON Semiconductor recently issued $300 million in notes and reduced its bank borrowings from more than $1 billion to roughly $700 million in an effort to better compliment the cyclical nature of its business. The Phoenix-based semiconductor manufacturer chose to refinance a portion of its borrowings with notes because they are less sensitive to cyclical downturns, explained John Kurtzweil, cfo. "[The banks] provide a bridge to a more permanent capital structure," he added.

The bank debt ofQwest Communications International was believed to have traded around the 88 1/2 level last week after the company received relief from one of its covenants. The company's debt-to-EBITDA ratio was scheduled to drop from 4.25 times to four times at the end of the year, but an amendment increased the allowable leverage ratio to six times for the life of the loan, which has been pushed out for two years to May 2005. Had it not received the amendment, Qwest would have been in default of its credit agreement.

Raymond James & Associates has hired Catherine Mountjoy as an asset-backed securities banker, says Bennett Cole, managing director. She will originate and structure term ABS transactions, reporting to Cole who has headed the ABS effort for the bank since he joined from Wachovia Securities last March (BW, 4/1). Mountjoy also joins from Wachovia, where she was a collateralized debt obligation analyst, reporting to Curtis Arledge, deputy head of fixed income. So far, three staffers out of the four-unit team have joined from Wachovia, notes Cole. Arledge did not return calls.

Société Générale has hired Paul Schmider as director for its credit structures group, the asset-backed commercial paper origination arm of the bank, says Marty Finan, who heads this group out of Chicago. Schmider, who is based in New York and started last Tuesday, will report to Finan. The group is comprised of 10 people, two in Chicago and eight in New York. Finan says the position is a new slot, created to increase the bank's origination efforts. The credit structures group handles all the commercial conduit activity of SG for its clients, says Finan. Finan is responsible for two multi-seller conduits, Barton Capital Corp. and Asset One Securitization, both of which combined, have issued $10 billion of short term ABS paper.

Jay Mueller, the chief economist at Strong Capital Management, has officially replaced Brad Tank as head of fixed income. His new role ends speculation as to whether Tank, who left the firm at the end of July, will be replaced internally. Mueller will report directly to Dick Strong, chairman of the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based asset management firm. He will oversee fixed-income portfolio management while continuing his chief economist role. Mueller says he has worked at Strong for 11 years.

Standard & Poor's has placed Tesoro Petroleum's $1.225 billion in credit facilities on watch with negative implications after the company announced a 15% decrease in predicted production levels at its six refineries through the end of September. "The margins are down, and now volumes are down as well," said S&P analystJohn Thieroff. That could translate into diminishing cash flow, he noted, predicting that progressively limited cash flow could increase Tesoro's chances of violating its interest coverage covenant at the end of the third quarter.

Buysiders that have committed to the $200 million "B" piece for Swift & Co., the name given to ConAgra Foods' beef and pork processing business, are set to receive a 3/8% ticking fee after waiting all summer for the deal to fund and close. The credit, which totals $550 million, was syndicated by J.P. Morgan and Salomon Smith Barney in July, but an accompanying $400 million high-yield bond deal was put on ice when ConAgra was embroiled in an E. coli scare. As a result, loan investors were forced to sit tight until the bonds could return to market. Calls to J.P. Morgan and Salomon were not returned by press time.

Lenders to Clean Harbors could potentially be pitted against the government authorities overseeing environmental liabilities in the event of a distressed scenario. This is because of the Braintree, Mass., company's planned acquisition of Safety-Kleen's Chemical Services Division for $46.3 million and the assumption of $265.4 million in environmental liabilities. The acquisition is being financed with a proposed $225 million bank deal, which has been rated B2 by Moody's Investors Service.