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Institutional players offered more than $1billion for Silgan Holdings' $300 million "B" loan before the bank meeting was even held April 25. Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citibank all have roles on the $800 million bank deal, which also comprises a $400 million, six-year revolver and a $100 million "A" term loan, said a banker. Silgan is looking to refinance to take advantage of the current investor enthusiasm for the paper, said Harley Rankin Jr., executive v.p. and cfo of Silgan. The $300 million "B" is still being shopped and the LIBOR plus 21/ 2% pricing is unchanged, the banker noted. The pro rata is priced at LIBOR plus 2%.

UBS Warburg has launched a European distressed debt effort to be coordinated through its London office. The firm has hired Martin Teevan, formerly a member of ING Barings' high-yield team in London, to spearhead the effort in the newly created position of director of distressed debt trading. Teevan will start out by trading names from the firm's high-yield book that have fallen into the distressed category, a firm official said. He reports to Jeff Horan and Drew Doscher, Stamford, Conn.-based co-heads of global distressed debt. Andrew Casswell, head of high-yield trading at ING says Teevan, who left the firm six months ago, will not be replaced.

About $7.1 billion in investment grade supply hit the market, although the number drops quickly if the $3 billion Italy global is removed from the equation. (Generally, we include sovereign and supranational issuance in our calculations although often they are not a good gauge of the overall health of the market.) Overall, the investment grade market remains fixated on the volatility in the telecom sector (WorldCom, Qwest and AT&T have garnered the most headlines) and other names like Tyco, which have also been in the news. As the market starts to stabilize, the primary market should also start to pick up given still-low absolute borrowing rates. The week saw a healthy high yield calendar as inflows into the sector support primary issuance. For the week, $1.6 billion in new junk deals hit the market.

Wells Capital Management is moving to drum up new Asian clients for its international fixed-income product, which invests in non-U.S. sovereign debt. The firm will eventually look to hire new officials in its existing offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and start new offices in Manila and Singapore, says Graham Allen, the firm's director of global fixed-income. He says a widespread shift among investors into international bonds and a sense that the dollar may be topping are among the reasons behind the push. Wells Capital hopes to land $200-400 million in new Asian business for the product over the next 18 months.

WorldCom is working with its bank group to amend the financing arrangements on a $2.65 billion, 364-day revolver as the market for the credit sunk to the 60-70s level from the 80-85 range two weeks ago. The credit is led by J.P. Morgan and Bank of America. The company also has a $3.75 billion, multi-year revolver and both facilities mature in June. The credit agreement allows the company to term out the 364-day facility and investors are worried that after the $3.75 billion line matures next month, the company will draw down and term-out the $2.65 billion facility. Dealers said that the company does not need cash at this time, but rather the liquidity associated with having the credit available. Both revolvers are currently unfunded.

Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers launched syndication of a $200 million refinancing for Mobile Storage Group last Friday. The loan, which consists of a $60 million, five-year revolver and a $140 million, seven-year "B" tranche is priced at LIBOR plus 21/ 2% and LIBOR plus 3%, respectively. There is also a 50 basis points commitment fee on the revolver. CSFB is the administration agent and Lehman is the syndication agent on the loan. Union Bank of California is the documentation agent. Expected ratings on the debt are Ba3/BB. Calls to company and bank officials were not returned.

Deutsche Bank has hired Seth Vance, formerly Schroder Salomon Smith Barney's head of collateralized debt obligations for Europe, as a senior banker on its London-based securitization team. Vance joined Deutsche Bank in late April and will report to Michael Raynes, head of the European securitization group. Raynes says Vance will work on CDOs, but will also cover a number of different fronts. Calls to SSSB's press office inquiring about Vance's replacement were not returned.

The European high-yield market appears to have propped itself up in bed as it struggles to recover from an extended technology, media and telecom hangover. After a first quarter that saw only six new issues, two deals were snapped up in two days last week, and a third, from Britax Group, which makes autoparts and car seats, was expected to price last Thursday or Friday. Several other deals are said to be on the way.

Farmland Industries' $350 million, five-year revolver and $150 million, two-year term loan have been downgraded from B1 to B3 by Moody's Investors Service because of the company's strained financial flexibility. Weaker fertilizer market conditions, disappointing proceeds from non-core asset sales and imminent maturities from a continuous debt program may cause the company to be in covenant violation on this recently syndicated credit. The company is dependent on this revolver for its liquidity.

First Health Group has switched lead banks for its new $400 million, five-year revolver, choosing Bank of America over LaSalle Bank. Joe Whitters, cfo of First Health, said the company negotiated with several banks, both inside and outside its current bank group, and decided that B of A had the best capabilities and offered the best services to lead the new credit. LaSalle Bank participated in the new syndicate, in addition to BANK ONE, SunTrust Bank, and BNP Paribas, all of which participated on the old deal.

Fleet Capital dislodged Wachovia Bank as lead lender to Russell Corp. when it syndicated a $325 million credit facility for the athletic sportswear company last month. "Russell needed to replace the old credit line within 12-18 months and the strength of the markets made it a very good time to do this," said Thomas Johnson, director of investor relations for Russell. Johnson declined to name the old lead bank, but said, "We liked what we saw in the proposal. Good pricing, terms and their ability were the reasons to switch to Fleet." Explaining the timing of the refinancing, he added, Russell was aiming to trim interest costs, term out debt and increase operating flexibility.

Collateralized debt obligations backed by loans overtook deals backed by bonds in the first quarter, according to a report from Banc of America Securities last week. The report validates what market players have been saying, as investors have become increasingly interested in the loan asset class. "We expect loans to outpace bonds, but we expect the ratio to lessen over time," saidLang Gibson, analyst at Banc of America. Gibson said the cause for the loan pop relates directly to an investor base more interested in high-yield loan collateral than bond collateral.