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Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio is set to take the niche market of film securitisation to new heights with a $1bn deal backed by future revenues from the company's existing and future library of films. Co-arranged by FleetBoston Financial and JP Morgan and wrapped by triple-A insurer Ambac Assurance, the deal will be funded through the asset backed commercial paper markets. It is part of a $1.5bn package - including a $500m revolving credit facility arranged by JP Morgan - designed to replace DreamWorks' existing financing with debt maturing in October 2007.

The UK pub sector is warming up for another round as the Unique estate is again being prepared for an asset backed issue. Three new tranches will be offered and some existing notes repaid as the Voyager estate of managed pubs are converted to leased properties and incorporated into the Unique collateral pool.

Marketing for the latest issue from UK mortgage lender Northern Rock starts in the UK today (Friday), before moving to the US next week. Lead managed by Citigroup/SSSB and JP Morgan, Granite Mortgages 02-2 plc offers 10 tranches of floating rate notes in dollars, sterling and euros. Some $1.78bn of notes are divided into two triple-A tranches, a double-A layer and a triple-B piece with average lives of 0.68, 3.44, 5.28 and 5.33 years respectively. The Eu1.19bn and £716.5m series have tranches rated triple-A, double-A and triple-B, with average lives of 3.4, 5.28 and 5.33 years.

Institutional investors are being offered the rare opportunity to invest in the performance of a group of leading syndicates at Lloyd's. SOC Group plc, a specialised Lloyd's member's agency, has launched a new vehicle, SOC Insurance Fund, designed to provide £1.2bn of underwriting capacity to specialised corporate members over the next three years.

Morgan Stanley deepened the original issue discount on a $245 million credit facility for Headwaters from 1.5% to a hefty 2.5% in an effort to close syndication by the end of this week, according to a banker familiar with the deal. In addition, pricing on the five-year, $220 million "B" term loan has been flexed up by 50 basis points to LIBOR plus 4 1/4% in order to attract more buysiders, the banker noted. A Morgan Stanley official declined to comment.

Lenders are increasingly using credit default swaps to gain exposure to investment-grade loans, forgoing traditional participation in the primary market. Selling protection essentially gives the seller the same credit risk as direct participation in the loan, but the premium on the protection far outweighs the skinny pricing on investment-grade loans. Banks hurt by recent events in the investment-grade market are now looking at the same risk with better return, and LIBOR plus 12.5 basis points just doesn't add up.

The bank debt of cable companies received a five- to 10-point boost in the secondary market following the news that RCN had sold its New Jersey-area cable systems for $245 million. "It's the first time the market has seen a valuation of a cable property in a long time," one trader said. As a result, Charter Communications' bank debt firmed up with a bid-ask spread quoted in the 84-88 range, up from the low 80s where it was seen trading last week. Even scandalized Adelphia Communications benefited from good industry buzz. Traders said that Adelphia's Century Cable term loan was bid in the low 70s, up from the mid-60s at the end of last week. No trades could be confirmed in the thin summer market.

The cost to corporates for interest rate and foreign exchange swaps could increase as more firms plan to use credit derivatives to hedge counterparty risk on these transactions. Interest-rate and foreign exchange desks at Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and UBS Warburg are looking at entering credit derivatives to price swaps more accurately and increase their credit lines. The move is spurred by the general deteriorating credit quality of corporates, said firm officials. The exact impact on swap pricing could not determined, one banker said pricing could even improve for highly-rated credits.

ABN AMRO has hired two research professionals from the former Gen Re Securities for new roles in its U.S. fixed-income derivatives team in New York. Reza Gharavi, fixed-income quantitative analyst at Gen Re, started last week as a director in fixed-income derivatives research. He said his role at ABN is not strictly defined yet but expects it will include a mix of interest-rate and credit derivatives research. L. Sankarasubramanian starts at ABN as a credit derivatives researcher after the Labor Day holiday. He had a similar role at Gen Re, which announced in January it was shutting its doors and has been unwinding positions and offloading personnel since (DW, 2/22).

Commerzbank Securities plans to expand its equity derivatives offerings and begin selling exotics such as correlation and volatility trades to the hedge fund community as part of a broader restructuring in its internal derivatives salesforce. Sam Gottesman, head of derivatives distribution for the Americas in New York, said the initiative to move into exotics follows the hire of Michael Belbeck, a senior equity derivatives marketer and structurer at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, as a senior hedge fund salesman who will focus on selling equity derivatives.

ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank are looking to issue warrants in Taiwan for the first time before year-end after recently receiving licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission. "There's definitely demand," said an official at ABN. "They're big names and should attract investors", said Ching-Pin Liou, head of derivatives at Yuan Ta Securities in Taipei, a domestic warrant issuer.

Bank of America has hired David Singer, interest-rate derivatives trader in the emerging markets group at ING Financial Markets in Hong Kong, as a group of seven forwards trader in Singapore as part of an expansion for its fx business. Lee Chee Pin, head of foreign exchange at Bank of America in Singapore, said the hire is part of a global strategy to boost its foreign exchange division. He added that BofA is considering adding one or two additional fx traders to its desk in Singapore.