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Levels for XO Communications' bank debt have shot up thanks to an amended tender offer by Carl Icahn'sHigh River partnership. The amended tender offers a price of 70 for XO's senior secured bank debt and the current market for the name has followed, although dealers maintain that no one was trading the paper.Carl Icahn could not be reached by press time.

Imagistics International, formerly Pitney Bowes Office Systems, has amended its $225 million credit facility to reduce pricing and increase its share repurchase limits. The motivation behind the amendment is primarily to reduce the interest rate, explained Charles Wessendorf, v.p. of investor relations. "The credit metrics have improved measurably and, based on performance, Imagistics warrants the new interest rate," he said.

J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse First Boston are preparing a financing package backing J.P. Morgan Partners' $500 million acquisition of Brand Services from DLJ Merchant Banking. A banker confirmed the deal would be launched next month, but he declined to be more specific. Pricing and terms could not be ascertained. Calls to J.P. Morgan and CSFB were not returned.

Bank of America and Credit Suisse First Boston are preparing to launch a $500 million debtor-in-possession facility for U.S. Airways on Sept. 4. The one-year credit will provide the Arlington, Va., airline with funds while it seeks to achieve cost savings from aircraft lessors, financiers and other key stakeholders. Pricing on the $250 million revolver and $250 million "A" term loan is LIBOR plus 31/ 2%, a banker noted, adding that the banks are offering a 1% upfront fee on the revolver. Officials at CSFB and B of A did not return calls.

An East Coast buy-side analyst and a sell-side analyst say the bonds of AT&T and Sprint Corp. are going to recover over the next few months as they take market share away from Qwest Communications and WorldCom. Marion Boucher Soper, head of investment-grade research at Deutsche Bank, says Sprint's bonds will trade up two to three points once the sale of its directory business goes through, as she believes it will. She also argues that AT&T's bonds will climb three to five points as the market becomes more comfortable with its debt profile and ability to compete in long distance.

Faced with growing inventories of unsold synthetic collateralized debt obligation, dealers and increasingly skittish investors are turning to more novel structures to entice buyers, according to BW sister publication Derivatives Week. The new twists structurers are putting on CDOs include kickers to the mezzanine tranche, adding structured products to the equity slice, securing ratings for deals that would previously have been placed without a rating and even putting tranches in other asset-backed products.

Charter Communications traded in the Street at 87 1/4 last Tuesday. Traders said the name had fallen back a point last week after a brief uptick that followed a report that majority equity holder Paul Allen would look to take the company private. Dealers said the paper was pulled back down by the current market mood.

Citigroup Investments has hired Pete Tauckus as a v.p. and high-yield trader based in New York, according to a trader familiar with the situation. Tauckus, who joined last week, declined comment. He reports to Tom Hajdukiewicz, head of high-yield, who did not return calls. Tauckus replaces a trader who recently left the firm whose name could not be determined.

Deutsche Bank's $600 million "B" term loan for Commonwealth Brands is said to have gathered more than $500 million in commitments, after investors were offered a 1/4% upfront fee on the tranche. That enticement follows a 1/2% price flex from LIBOR plus 31/ 2% to LIBOR plus 4%. The credit facility also includes a $17 million revolver, which will satisfy Commonwealth's small capital expenditure requirements. A Deutsche Bank spokesman could not confirm the details by press time.

Conseco bank debt slipped from the high 60s to the mid-50s following a bank call last Tuesday. The details of the bank meeting could not be ascertained, but the company later disclosed that operating results combined with non-operating charges would reduce shareholder equity from $4.7 billion, where it was recorded at the end of 2001, to $533 million at the end of June. At least $10 million in paper is believed to have changed hands.

ABN AMRO has recently relocated Frank McKirgan, head of Asian equity derivatives in Hong Kong, to a new role in London, according to Ali Ahmed, now-Asian head of equity derivatives trading in Hong Kong. Ahmed noted that he joined last month from Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities, where he was the Hong Kong head of equity derivatives trading, to assume responsibility for the trading desk. On the back of McKirgan's repatriation, ABN has restructured the desk by splitting his duties between the head of trading and Anthony Wah, head of marketing for Asian equity derivatives, noted Ahmed. McKirgan did not return calls.

Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) is poised to head up a flurry of Korean bond issuance in the final quarter with its much anticipated $650m-plus issue. Bankers believe that the state utility's transaction will be one of several deals that should be arranged before the year draws to a close. So far there has been disappointingly little bond issuance from the country compared with previous years.