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UK mortgage lender Northern Rock hit the market hard last Friday with another igneous rock, momentarily replacing the well known Granite name with Dolerite, a new master trust. The group's first entry into the commercial mortgage backed market was greeted warmly by investors as Citigroup/SSSB offered $600m and £83.75m of notes backed by a diverse portfolio of properties.

Shinsei Securities this week priced the third issue from its collateralised loan obligation (CLO) master trust, which contains around 2,300 loans made to over 600 Japanese companies. Lead managed by Nomura (books) and Shinsei Securities, the ¥40bn deal was well received by a predominantly Japanese group of investors.

WestLB and CIBC World Markets this week completed an £870m refinancing for boxclever, the UK consumer goods rental company. The deal marks the end of a lengthy structuring process continuing since June 2000, when the company was formed by the merger of Granada Home Technology and Radio Rentals, owned by Nomura through the group's parent Thorn.

UK mortgage lender Northern Rock hit the market hard last Friday with another igneous rock, momentarily replacing the well known Granite name with Dolerite, a new master trust. The group's first entry into the commercial mortgage backed market was greeted warmly by investors as Citigroup/SSSB offered $600m and £83.75m of notes backed by a diverse portfolio of properties.

Caminhos de Ferro Português (CP), Portugal's state owned rail freight services company, this week launched a Eu255m structured bond via UBS Warburg. Although a rarity in the Portuguese market, dominated by MBS and lease backed deals, the deal illustrates the increasingly sophisticated use of structured finance techniques by European public bodies. Only last month FSA wrapped a Eu325m debt programme for Spanish trade fair group Feria Valencia.

Cofidis, the French consumer finance subsidiary of mail order company Trois Suisses, this week launched its third securitisation of consumer loans from its Libravou vehicle. With most ABS practitioners busy at the Barcelona conference this week, Crédit Lyonanis slipped this Eu168.5m transaction into the market. The spitting image of its predecessor in terms of size and structure, the deal enjoyed the general spread tightening in the market to price under 30bp for the first time.

The Belgian Debt Agency is considering entering interest-rate swaps to convert EUR10-15 billion (USD9.5-14.3 billion) of its floating rate debt into fixed-rate debt this year. Anne Leclercq, head of the front office, said the potential for rising interest rates in Europe is causing the debt agency to look at this option for its floating-rate portfolio, which totals USD30 billion. She added that its budgetary needs would also play a role in the decision. Leclercq was speaking at the Euromoney Global Borrowers & Investors Conference at the London Hilton on Wednesday.

A unique amendment to XO Communications' bank debt agreement has essentially halted the trading of the name in the secondary bank loan market, thereby preventing financier Carl Icahn from buying the bank debt, according to market sources. The company's bank steering committee, which includes TD Securities, Bank of American, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, FleetBoston Financial, and Scotia Capital, passed an amendment that, according to a statement in the company's most recent 8-K filing, requires majority senior lender consent to any transfers of senior secured debt, including both assignments and participation, for up to 90 days. "That would require the approval of the banks for an assignment," said one trader. "That's a little bizarre." Calls to Icahn's office were not returned.

Roughly $80 million of Comdisco bank debt was believed to have traded out of Morgan Stanley at the 82 3/8 - 83 level this week. Traders said the firm won an auction that occurred on June 14 and promptly placed the paper with an undisclosed buyer or buyers last week. Calls to Morgan Stanley were not returned by press time.

Trading levels for Kmart's bank debt fluctuated briefly earlier this, falling a couple of points on the fear that Martha Stewart would be implicated for insider trading on ImClone Systems. One dealer said more than $20 million changed hands by Tuesday, with the 364-day facility moving in the 73-74 range and the three-year facility moving in the 67-68 range. By Wednesday, levels had recovered and the name was said to be quiet. Calls to the company's spokesman were not returned by press time.

Levels on Lyondell Chemical's bank debt moved up this week after the company announced it would use $200 million of the proceeds from a $275 million offering of 10-year senior secured notes and an offering of seven million shares of common stock to pay down existing indebtedness under the company's term loans. Although the name was not changing hands, traders quoted the "E" term loan at 101 3/4 -102 1/2 , up from the 100 1/2 101 level two weeks ago. The loan has a call protection of 102.

Three leveraged credit facilities recently syndicated by Credit Suisse First Boston were oversubscribed this week, despite some investor grumbling over the opportunistic nature of the refinancings. Over the past couple of weeks, CSFB has been shopping a $255 million facility for Buffet's and a $530 million "E" term loan for Mueller. The firm also came to the market recently with a $600 million "C" term loan, jointly led by National City Bank, for OM Group. A CSFB banker declined to comment.