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Goldman Sachs' $250 million "B" tranche for Venetian Casinos was allocated late last week, with bankers and buysiders expecting pieces to be on the skinny side. The deal was more than five times oversubscribed, according to bankers, and instead of being upsized, pricing was slashed 1/2% to LIBOR plus 3%. The deal also includes a $125 million pro rata piece, which has a $50 million delayed draw term loan. Bankers said it is not too surprising the credit was so oversubscribed. Despite concern over Vegas-based hotels, Venetian is a solid operation, said bankers and analysts.

A small piece of Wyndham International's "B" term loan traded in the 95 range in retail last Tuesday, according to dealers, as the completion of the company's planned bond deal comes into question. Some traders quoted the paper as low as 92-94 down from the 971/ 2-98 range, where it had been trading before Moody's Investors Service gave the company's planned $750 million of senior subordinated notes a Caa1 rating. The new notes are earmarked to pay down the company's increasing-rate loan and roughly 10-15% of the name's "B" term paper. No trades were reported on the IRL's and the market was quoted wide at 95-98.

The Cooper Companies tripled the size of its KeyBank-led credit facility, adding a term loan tranche to the composition of its bank deal. The new $225 million credit, comprising a $150 million, three-year revolver and a $75 million, five-year term loan, replaces a $75 million revolver set to mature in 2006. The company needed to pay off $62 million under its existing credit line and pay £44 million in notes owed to Biocompatibles International as a result of Cooper's purchase of Biocompatibles Eyecare in February. These capital expenditures prompted a redo of its entire credit line package, said Norris Battin, v.p. of investor relations. The company tripled its size after evaluating its capital needs going forward, he noted. The credit was oversubscribed.

Gregg Mattner has left Barclays Global Investors (BGI) where he was a principal who oversaw $60 billion in passively managed fixed-income assets. He says that when BGI made a decision last year to emphasize active rather than passive management and have him report to Peter Wilson, his fourth boss in 11 months, he became disenchanted with his role at the firm. "My most recent responsibilities were significantly different from what I was initially hired to do," he says. Mattner says he resigned. Calls to Wilson were referred to Tom Taggart, BGI spokesman, who characterizes the decision as a mutual one.

United Defense Industries (UDI) is seeking an amendment from its bank group to cut pricing on its bank deal and add $300 million of debt to its credit to fund the acquisition of United States Marine Repair. "We expect the pricing to decline with the amendment," said Mark Manion, treasurer of UDI. "The credit markets have improved and the banks think they can do it," he added. There is currently $423 million of bank debt, with an additional $300 million expected, he said. The amendment needs 100% approval. He declined to comment on the current and anticipated spread and referred questions on how the lead banks, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers, will shop the amendment to the group. Calls to officials at the banks were not returned.

Market players are speculating that Owens-Illinois might choose to once again restructure its debt with either another carve-out or a bond deal. The company recently carved out roughly $500 million of its revolver for a term loan to make the paper more attractive to institutional buyers, and some dealers believe the company could make a similar move in the future. The market for the name's term loan "B" was quoted in the 99 1/4 99 3/4 range and the market for the revolver was quoted in the 96 3/4 97 3/4 range, according to traders.

At least four high-yield portfolio managers say they would rather run the risk of underperforming benchmark indices than get hammered again in the telecom sector. None of them plan to buy the bonds of WorldCom, and half are also steering clear ofQwest Communications. The admission by the buy-siders is significant because the credits were expected to comprise a whopping 6.8% of the Merrill Lynch High-Yield Master II index, and over 7% of the Lehman Brothers high-yield index. The bonds were added to the widely followed indices last weekend due to recent downgrades. The junk managers say they have been down the telecom road before, and do not have the stomach to add further exposure to the sector, especially because their peers are of the same mind and therefore they will not risk underperforming them.

Merrill Lynch and Bank of America are launching bank and bond deals for Advance Medical Optics (AMO) this week to facilitate the spin-off of the business from Allergan. AMO is an opthalmic surgical and contact-lens care business, and the spin-off will leave Allergan as a pure-play specialty pharmaceutical company, explained a buysider. The bank deal is said to be split between a $100 million "B" loan and a $40 million revolver, while $175 million of senior subordinated notes will be offered, she said. Ratings are said to be B1 and BB- for the bank debt and B3 for the senior sub notes. Pricing on the five-year revolver is LIBOR plus 3% and the "B" is offering LIBOR plus 31/ 2%, said a banker, who noted launch is slated for June 4.

Merrill Lynch has been selected to lead a staple-on financing for Code Hennessey & Simmons backing the potential leveraged buyout of Otis Spunkmeyer fromFirst Atlantic Capital. A banker familiar with the deal said Code is in exclusivity talks and is likely to close the deal within a few weeks. Merrill shopped the business and is now likely to provide a $150 million bank deal, pending the sale. There could also be either a mezzanine or high-yield piece to accompany the deal, the banker added. Otis makes frozen cookie dough, pre-baked cookies, muffins, bagels, pastries, and brownies. Estimates of the sale price have been over $260 million. Officials at Merrill declined comment and calls to officials at Code, Hennessey were not returned.

Nextel Communications bank debt held its ground last week, trading in the 83 1/2-84 range after its international unit NII Holdings filed for an expected bankruptcy. The market for the name had been quoted in the 85 1/4 to 85 3/4 range in mid May, but ticked down to the 84 1/2 level after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the name two weeks ago.

Payden & Rygel, a Los Angeles money manager with $34 billion in taxable fixed-income assets, has hired S. V. Balachander to the new position of senior v.p. and credit strategist. Brian Matthews, managing principal at Payden & Rygel, says he hired Balachander because the firm is growing its asset base and is always looking for good people. He will report to Chris Orndorff, managing principal in charge of credit.