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Wyndham International's increasing rate loan traded down last week after Moody's Investors Service assigned a Caa1 rating to the company's proposed $750 million of senior notes, causing investors to fret overt the status of the deal. The new notes are slated to pay down all of the IRL and 10-15% of the company's term loan "B" expiring in 2004, and that prospect had driven Wyndham's IRL paper up toward par. But prices fell to 98 last week as approximately $10 million changed hands after Moody's came out with its rating. Rick Smith, cfo of Wyndham, was not in the office Friday morning and could not be reached for comment. A company spokeswoman did not comment by press time.

Deutsche Bank has priced notes backing GoldenTree Asset Management's roughly $650-700 million collateralized loan obligation. Market sources said the deal is slated to close next month. One banker close to the deal said the portfolio manager structured the deal in such a way to accommodate the deal's size and a collateral basket consisting of a percentage of revolvers. Officials at GoldenTree and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

The Dixie Group went with a new bank group when it decided its banks did not fully recognize the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based carpet manufacturer's move away from being a textile company. "Dixie is a 100% carpet company, but some of the banks still viewed us as a textile company and they did not want to be in that sector," said Gary Harmon, cfo of Dixie. SunTrust Bank, which led the last facility did recognize the change, which occurred several years ago," said Gary Harmon, cfo of Dixie, but instead of reworking the group, Dixie decided to go with an entirely new group, he added.

Allegheny Energy Supply, a subsidiary of Allegheny Energy, has rolled three 364-day credit facilities totaling $810 million into one $965 million revolving credit facility. The company secured the three separate facilities last year as needed to support its growth and acquisition strategy, said Kevin Warchol, assistant treasurer. The company chose to consolidate the credits and cover its liquidity needs with one facility for administration purposes as well as the ease in having one set of covenants to abide by, explained Warchol.

Paul Tice, former co-head of high-grade research and energy analyst at Deutsche Bank, will return to Lehman Brothers, where he started his career. He will join the research group early next month, as a managing director to monitor the firm's non-public capital commitments, including its loan exposures, which have become an increasingly important part of the firm's business, says Jim Asselstine, the firm's global director of high-grade research.

Robert Sweeney, a veteran high-grade energy analyst, left Putnam Investments last Thursday and will join BNP Paribas as a director in its investment-grade research effort. Sweeney declined comment andJoe Labriola, head of research at BNP, did not return calls. It is assumed, however, that Sweeney was brought in to replace Dan Scotto, who was released from the firm last year (BW, 5/20). Individuals familiar with Sweeney's thinking on the matter say that he has made it perfectly clear to them that widely discussed turmoil within Putnam's bond operations this year is the reason for his departure. Calls to Paul Quistberg, Putnam's head of fixed-income research, and Stephen Peacher, cio, were not returned.

David Howard, managing director with Fitch Ratings, left the rating agency for Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, a provider of insurance for structured finance products, asset-backed securities and municipal bonds. His new title is chief risk officer. He will report to Debbie Reif, ceo. Howard says he replaces Greg Raab who will head up the structured finance group at FGIC.

Global Crossing sparked the market again this week with more than $50 million changing hands in the 24 range as bidders Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies Telemedia continue to negotiate the value of the company's assets with Global Crossing and its creditors. The credit had been trading in 22-23 range. The company's lending group was hoping that the two bidders would sweeten their offer, but Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies told creditors on Thursday that they would not, according to a trader. A large piece was rumored to be auctioned in the 25-26 context on Thursday afternoon.

Kathleen Lamb, a healthcare analyst from Credit Suisse First Boston who regularly places near the top of the rankings in the high-yield healthcare sector on the Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income Research Team, will retire in June, according to an official at the firm. She will be replaced by Graham Barnett, who had been working on the origination side at CSFB. Neither Lamb nor Barnett returned calls.

The cable sector continued to dominate trading, though slightly less than in the previous week. New issue activity picked up as deals from Roundy's,Sybron Dentaland Trico Marineall traded up after issue. Here was other selected action.

Deutsche Bank launched the anticipated $900 million deal for Fleming last Wednesday to investors who said they wouldn't mind seeing a little extra juice on the pricing. "LIBOR plus 21/ 4% doesn't really get me that excited, but it's definitely a decent company," said one buysider, adding that despite the low spread on the "B" term loan his fund is looking seriously at it. He explained that the company is strong and his institution is looking to put money to work. A banker said the firm has definitely priced the refinancing credit aggressively because many deals, "Have been getting done lately south of 250."

RailAmerica's new $375 million "B" term loan broke for trading last week and dealers estimated that roughly $20-30 million of the name traded in the 100 1/2 to 101 1/4 context. Investors are attracted to this name, which blew out in syndication, because of its consistent cash flow and asset value. One trader noted that the deal is three times over collateralized, . Buyers are most likely to be original lenders who did not get their fill of the paper after allocation, traders said.