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DWS Investments is seeking to increase its exposure to corporate bonds. In particular, the media sector appears very cheap says Xueming Song, Frankfurt-based portfolio manager of the firm's $420 million dollar portfolio, who is looking to add AOLTimeWarner's 10-year benchmark bond. The 6 7/8% of '12 global bond has widened roughly 100 basis points to 260 over Treasuries in the past month. Song says he will buy AOL once it widens to 280-290 over. "If you drop AOL out of AOLTimeWarner, there are still good medium- to long-term fundamentals," he says.

When asked about the recent moves of Martin Pryor and Joe Wilson of J.P. Morgan to Salomon Smith Barney and Walter Levitch of Salomon to Goldman Sachs on trader quipped, "If we are not trading assets, we're trading people."

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.

Bob Alley, portfolio manager with AIM Advisors in Houston, says that he will swap 7% of the fund's portfolio, or $175 million, out of corporates into mortgage-backed securities over the next quarter. He anticipates that MBS will offer more protection in a rising interest rate environment due to their negative convexity. There is no particular trigger for this move, besides the widely anticipated Federal Reserve tightening action later on this year, which will flatten the curve, says Alley. He adds that his strategy also aims at reducing duration and giving up some convexity for more yield and less volatility.

Bank of America last week launched a roughly $150 million term loan "B" for Miami, Fla.-based Southern Wine & Spirits. Investors said the deal was quietly shopped to banks who have been historical lenders to the company. "The company doesn't want too many new investors in its paper," said a buysider, regarding what he described as the company's choice to try and place its "B" tranche with its existing bank group. Steven Becker, treasurer at Southern Wine & Spirits, did not return repeated phone calls. Officials at B of A declined to comment.

Frank Knowles, Merrill Lynch's co-head of European fixed-income research, who also headed up the European high-yield research effort, has left the firm. Knowles, who had been at Merrill in London for 15 years, is looking for a spot on the buy-side, says a Merrill insider. His replacement has not yet been named, but Patrick McCullough, has taken up Knowles' telecom coverage responsibilities, says the insider.

George Chalhoub has left Merrill Lynch, where he was a director and high-yield analyst covering consumer products, metals and mining, to take a similar position at Deutsche Bank, according to Clare Schiedermayer, Merrill's manager of credit research for the Americas. He fills a void created by the departure of Lisa Gaffney last month (BW, 4/28). He could not be reached, and Andy Van Houten, co-head of high-yield research at Deutsche Bank, did not return calls.

The Reader's Digest Association closed on $950 million in new credit facilities, led by Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, after bringing in more than 80 other lenders, including mutual funds and insurance companies. Reader's Digest is purchasing Reiman Publications for $760 million. In addition to the acquisition, the financing will also pay for $100 million of Class B share repurchases in connection with a pending recapitalization, as well as the restructuring of existing borrowings, noted Michael Geltzeiler, senior v.p. and cfo of Reader's Digest.

Paul Shaum, former head of high-yield research at SG Cowen, has joined Soros Fund Mangement as a portfolio manager. Michael Vachon, a firm spokesman, declined further comment, as did Shaum. In addition to being research head, Shaum covered aerospace and consumer products at SG Cowen. However, he was let go last year as the firm cut back underwriting in those sectors (BW, 3/4/01).

RBC Capital Markets is on the lookout for a few bond traders for its London fixed-income trading desk. It is looking for an emerging markets trader and another, more junior trader, for general bond trading, industry officials say. Recently, Simon Howard-Glossop, a senior member of the London-based global credit team, left RBC. His destination could not be learned by press time nor could the name of his replacement. Calls to Peter McFallon, head of credit trading in London, were not returned.