Search results for

Westdeutsche Landesbank has hired Dominic Larche and Scott Spelker, senior vice presidents in the foreign exchange trading group at HSBC in New York, to take similar positions, said a market official. Larche, who left HSBC about three weeks ago, has filled a vacant position as chief dealer for foreign exchange forwards and Spelker, who left HSBC several months ago, is chief dealer for foreign exchange options. Both positions were left vacant in March, when several staff left WestLB's FX group, the official said, declining to detail which employees left.

Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser is looking to add 4.25% TIPS of '10 to its $100 million Bond Opportunity Fund. This move will involve 2-3% of the portfolio, according to portfolio manager Eric Leve. He says the disappearance of the U.S. budget surplus will exert upward pressure on nominal Treasury yields, which makes TIPS attractive relative to on-the-run Treasuries even without inflation. However, he believes the potential for inflation, as well as the likelihood of the Federal Reserve beginning rate hikes in August, will give TIPS still further support. Leve says Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser will sell nominal Treasuries to raise money for the TIPS purchase, which it will make once the market becomes more certain of August rate hikes.

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.